Chapter Text
In the duration of their training, many of the recruits and trainers had noticed the strange relationship between the dark-haired duo. Even though the two could be found with Armin and Eren, they were never seen apart from each other.
About a week into training, Jean had attempted to approach Mikasa. He had thought of her to be the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. He had an issue trying to make sure she was isolated before he could compliment her. He had thought of it to be awkward for both parties if he were to walk up to her while she was with her friends and fire off whatever he could think of.
He watched as she made a gesture towards Armin that she was going to follow Eren out of the mess hall. Jean looked around said mess hall - everyone was distracted with cleaning up after themselves or talking to others. This could be the chance he was waiting for. He could finally talk to her without any interruptions.
Mikasa had very strange friends, Jean thought. He had heard through the grapevines and how that loud kid with the biggest eyes he had seen talks to her. It was obvious they were friends because who else would talk to people like that? Armin seemed like a nice kid. There was one guy though.
No matter how many times he made sure that nobody was watching him, as soon as he glanced at her direction, those little eyes were already watching him. Jean was always the first one to break eye contact but dear Sina, he felt like he was being watched by a wolf. The only thing that was missing was the snarling teeth but this guy didn't even need it to be threatening.
Was he her boyfriend?
It did make sense. Someone as attractive as Mikasa wouldn't be single for long. If Jean had a girlfriend like that, he'd fight tooth and nail to keep men away from her too. He mentally nodded in understanding. He watched as she disposed of her food tray to follow Eren out of the small building. Jean quickly repeated her actions and made his way towards her. If he wanted to talk to her, he needed to do it now because he wasn't sure if he was ever going to get a chance like this. Even if she did have that guy as her boyfriend, he wanted to at least introduce himself so she could notice him.
"Hey yo-"
Jean cut himself off as he felt someone shove into his side violently. He stopped in his tracks to see what he had bumped into when he noticed it was actually a who he bumped into.
It was the guy.
There was no exchange of words. There didn't need to be. The shorter guy was giving him that same look from before. Jean had two options: he could do what he normally did and break eye contact and that would end this confrontation or he could man up and take the bait. He quickly looked at him to see that he was now standing in front of him, as if waiting for him to make a decision.
Jean could probably take him. He had heard about how fast this guy picked up on things in training but they were all teenagers, so there was a chance they were likely exaggerating.
"What do you want."
Jean noted that it wasn't even a question, that this guy was already demanding him to answer him.
"I just wanted to get to know Mikasa," he replied carefully.
"You already know her name. What else do you need?"
Straight to the point. Jean mentally rolled his eyes.
"I've just never seen anyone that looked like her. She just seems like she's different from the rest of us. Like she's special. I was just gonna compliment her," Jean rambled out.
The dark-haired man lifted an eyebrow in amusement. "You wanted to talk to her because she looks different from us? What does that mean? We all look different from each other. What makes her special?" He asked, folding his arms.
Jean wanted to sigh in disappointment. He thought he was going to be able to talk to Mikasa but he had to go and screw it up for him.
"She's quiet. I've only heard her talk maybe once? I've also never seen anyone with black hair. I didn't even know that was a thing. Nothing gets to her. I've seen some of the guys fight each other for fun and she doesn't even bat an eye."
"I can tell you right now that she's definitely not interested. She's too busy being up Eren's ass to notice anybody else. You probably don't even exist to her."
Before Jean could come up with a comeback, the man was already walking away.
He let out a sigh and felt a hand land on his shoulder. He turned and saw it was Marco.
With a sympathetic smile, Marco said, "don't take it too hard. I don't think she notices anyone outside of her circle of friends. It's hard to get along with people like that."
Jean rubbed his face in frustration. "Maybe he's right."
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A few weeks had passed since they all enrolled. The Shiganshina squad had assumed their usual positions at their table: Armin and Eren next to one another while Mikasa and Levi sat across the table from them respectively.
Levi glanced over at Jean to see that he was side-eyeing Mikasa. He stared at Jean until he noticed. He then attempts to look down at his soup as if it were the most interesting thing. Levi rolled his eyes before looking over at the two boys in front of him. Eren and Armin were looking through a book that Armin had brought with him. The picture on the cover had a large body of water and some sand along the bottom border. He looked over at Mikasa to see that she was simply pushing her food around instead of eating it.
He leaned in to keep wandering ears from their conversation.
"Oi, what's wrong?"
Taking a sip of her water, she replied, "it's nothing."
Levi sighed, "bullshit. You haven't touched your food since we got here. You can't be strong if you don't eat."
Mikasa scoffed, finally looking at him. "I'm not a child."
"Then don't fucking act like one and eat."
"I'm just worried."
Levi hummed in response and gestured for her to continue.
"That group on the far left. Two blonds and the tall one."
Levi followed her directions with his eyes. At a table, he could see the described figures. The blonde girl ket to herself and looked absolutely miserable there. The bulky blond boy in front of her was having a conversation with the tall boy who was sweating profusely, despite the cool air around them. Levi scrunched his face in disgust.
"What about them?"
Mikasa shrugged, "there's something off about them."
"Is it because that girl is trying to get close with Eren?"
"No, I'm already aware of that."
Levi rolled his eyes again. "Do you want to explain then?"
Mikasa picked up a small loaf of bread and bit into it. She chewed in thought and swallowed her food before responding. "Like I said, there's something weird about them. If I knew what it was, then I wouldn't be worried about it like this."
Levi scratched at his neck, "don't worry about it, then. Just keep your distance and you'll be fine. That blond fuck over there keeps making passes at your dumbass and you don't do anything about it."
"I don't see the big deal. If he touches me then I'll deal with it."
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"Hey Armin. I have a question."
"What the fuck, Jean? What do you want?"
"Shut up, Eren. I'm not talking to you."
"Hi Jean. What do you need?"
"Mikasa and Levi. What's with them? What are they?"
"What's it to you, bastard? Mikasa's way out of your league. Levi would never let you near her."
"They're friends. They have a special bond."
"A special bond? So they're dating or something?"
"If Levi could marry her he definitely would."
"That's true but they're not. They're just very close friends. I think Mikasa's actually closer to Levi than she is with you."
"Yeah thank Maria for that. I don't know what I would've done if she were clinging to me like she did before Levi came around."
"So they're not married or related? No connection to each other at all?"
"Related?"
"That would explain so much."
"So?"
"No. They just happen to be very similar."
"It's none of your business. If you're that curious, you can ask them yourself."