Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

One month-June.

Armin started his day at Eren’s grave. He watched the sun rise over the hills of the cemetery.

In the last week he had visited Eren’s grave twice. Always in the early morning.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to lessen the pain of sorrow in his heart.

“I miss you so much. I miss you coming over on Friday nights,crashing in my guest room and eating all my cereal. Goddamn. I miss everything.”

Armin had read several articles about the 5 stages of grief and believed some of it was true. He felt alone some of the time. He even felt alone when held in Mikasa’s arms. The rational part in Armin’s brain told him that he wasn’t alone and that he could pick up the phone and call anyone of his friends to alleviate of his sadness.

6:50 am.

He gave Eren’s grave a last look before turning and leaving the cemetery.

At home he opened his laptop and began working on more paperwork for his new job at the local elementary school. After a few hours or so he shut his computer down. He couldn’t focus all his attention.

He laid in bed staring at the ceiling. It had been a whole month since Eren’s death. He took a deep breath in and let it out.

Everytime he scrolled through his phone and hovered over a contact, he could never bring himself to press the call or message button.

Mikasa Ackerman He stared at her contact icon.

In a small burst of energy he rushed to his bookshelf to grab his senior yearbook and his car keys.

A short ten minutes later he arrived at Mikasa’s apartment with his yearbook and greasy chinese food in hand.

Mikasa opened the door. She was wearing Eren’s old martial arts shirt and sweatpants. She took one look at the bag of food and quietly let him in.

The apartment was cleaner than usual. Mikasa hated cleaning and only cleaned whenever she felt upset or overwhelmed.

“How have you been?” Armin asked tentatively setting down the food on her coffee table.

“I’m Fine.” She answered looking down.

This angered Armin. Why, why are you hiding from me? He thought as he stepped forwards.

“Cut the crap Kasa.”

“What?”

“Please don’t lie to yourself and me. You’re hurting aren’t you?” Armin placed his things on her table.

“Its not that I’m lying...It’s just that I don’t want to talk about my feelings right now” She looked up at him.

Armin took her left hand in both his hands and squeezed them.

“Right now I really really really want to reminisce about Eren in high school. I..I miss him so much and haven’t been able to talk to anyone else about him” His voice cracks and pulls Mikasa’s hand towards himself.

Mikasa sees Armin fighting the tears haven’t fell yet.

“ I’ll get the plates and drinks” She says as she pulls her hand from Armin’s.

They spend the rest of the night looking at his yearbook. Eren won ‘Best smile’, the three of them won as ‘Most likely to stay lifelong friends’ and Armin was voted as class president. Mikasa was co-head of the martial arts team and pictured with Annie Leonhardt winning a state competition. Mikasa smirked at an action shot of Jean about to punch Eren and Conne trying to hold him back. The two laughed at the staff’s pictures, the pictures taken during the homecoming game and senior portraits.

“How did Eren convince Grisha to wear a cowboy hat and a suit for his picture?” Armin asked with a mouthful of noodles.

“Grisha didn’t notice the cowboy hat until after the pictures were taken and we were half way home. Eren couldn’t stop laughing for hours after that.” Miasa replied with a small smile. “He wanted to make a statement but I didn’t know what his statement was...I don’t think he even knew” She chuckled and reached for an eggroll.

“It been about 3 years since Grisha’s death”

“And about 11 years since Carla’s…Now Eren.”

They glanced at the pictures. Them and their group of friends went to the same elementary, middle and high school in their small town. Except for Ymir, Historia and the Springers, everyone stayed in the general area. Their graduating class had 104 students so staying in contact wasn’t really hard to stay in contact with old classmates.

They talked about what their old classmates were doing. Hannah and Franz got engaged “Fucking finally” Mikasa said while Armin laughed softly. Mikasa checked Marco’s facebook to see if he posted anything from his and Jean’s Europe backpacking trip.

“He hasn’t posted anything since April and Jean hasn’t called his mother or any of us. They must really be having fun in Europe” She said as she locked her screen.

“Well they’re due back in August since Marco starting graduate school at A&M.”

“Lucky bastard. Full ride to an expensive college.” Mikasa smirked.

“You like working as freelance accountant, right?” He asked

“I do but I’d like a continuous schedule that’s not so sporadic.”

They flipped to the last few pages of Armin’s yearbook.

On the last page of his yearbook the two found Eren’s signature and message.

“HEEEEEEEEEY MY LIL COCONUT HEAD :D
Dude, we’ve been through so much shit together and I know we’ll go through more but with you and Kasa by my side- I wouldn’t have it any other way- Been my best friend since we were 7 and will be til we’re like 70.
I love you man
(no homo…..or all the homo ;)
EREN JAEGER

“All the homo?” Mikasa asked with a smirk.

“Everyone thought we were gay for each other. Despite him dating Annie Leonhardt for a year and me crushing on someone else”

“High school was horrible” Mikasa said as she leaned against Armin.

“Not as bad as middle school”

“True”

They continued to eat peacefully.

Chapter Text

The Springers invited Mikasa and Armin to their beach house for Fourth of July.  Bertholdt and his wife Annie and their boyfriend Reiner with their kids and the new engaged Ymir and Historia were also invited.

Historia: Annie and her brood are spending the night on the 3th and 4th at Connie and Sasha’s place. Do you and Armin want to ride with me and Miri? let me know :)

Mikasa read Historia’s text aloud to Armin.

“I know you hate driving and I’m probably going to get drunk and sunburned so..yeah tell Story we’ll love a ride” Armin said over his laptop.

After sending Historia a ‘Yes please” Mikasa went back to work on her laptop.

                                 ………………………………

“Rise and shine Mother fuckers” Ymir shouted through the door.

“Good fucking morning to you too Ymir” Mikasa greeted Ymir and Historia into her apartment. She grabbed her bag and the coffees she brought for everyone.

“Armin should be over in 5 minutes- here’s some donuts, Ymir I got those eclairs you like”

“Thanks Mikasa” Ymir said as she reached in the donut box.

“How you’ve been? We haven’t heard from you or Armin in weeks” Historia mentioned as she munched on a sprinkled donut.

Ymir gave a Mikasa a look to mean 'Don't lie to us'

“..Its been tough. I have to clean out Eren’s apartment by next month which is gonna be hell but Armin said he’ll do it with me...I just miss him.” She breathes out and slips some of her coffee.

“Just let us know if you need help” Ymir called from the kitchen.

The door to the apartment opened and Armin came in.

“Good morning Ladies” Armin called out with a smile.

“Morning, there’s donuts and coffee” Mikasa gestured towards her kitchen.

After donuts and coffee the four of them headed over to Connie and Sasha’s place. The trip was 2 hour drive. Armin asked about Ymir and Historia’s engagement. Historia told Mikasa and Armin how she had bought a ring and was wanting until their four year anniversary. But funny enough she came home to find Ymir dressed up with flowers and a ring. Ymir proudly showed off her engagement ring while driving much to the dismay of Mikasa. After much congratulations they arrived at the beach house.  

Reiner and Connie came out to greet them and help with their bags.  Inside the beach house Annie and Sasha were applying sunscreen on Annie’s children Dennis and Mia.

“Where’s my buggers? give your awesome ass aunt a hug!” Ymir called to Dennis and Mia. The kids ran excitedly to Ymir.

Ymir picked up Mia “Little lady, where is your dad? Its rude as hell of him not to greet his favorite cousin”

Historia laughed and hugged Dennis. As soon as Sasha saw Mikasa she pulled Mikasa into a tight hug. Bertholdt waved at Armin while Reiner gave him a bear hug. After everyone greeted each other and changed into their swimsuits they all went down the street to the beach.

Dennis and Mia went straight to the clear water. Reiner, Bertholdt and Connie set up the canopy tent. Mikasa and Annie sat on the warm sand watching Sasha and Armin play in the water with Dennis and Mia. Ymir and Historia scrolled the beach hunting for interesting seashells.

“Dennis and Mia are starting kindergarten next August-I don’t know who's more nervous- Bert or Reiner” Annie said quietly, twisting her wedding ring.

“They’ll love it, 3rd grade is when it goes downhill”  Mikasa glanced at Annie’s hand

Armin and Connie started grilling hot dogs and hamburgers on the portable grill. Reiner and Bertholdt had made guacamole and Historia brought cookies. After lunch the kids built a enormous sand castle with their dads and aunt Ymir. Sasha drove Mikasa, Annie and Armin to a fireworks stand to pick out what kind of firecrackers they wanted to set off later that evening.

Evening came quickly. Armin and Historia were so sunburned that Connie and Sasha proceeded to call them ‘Mr. and Ms. Lobster’ and made up a song to further tease them for being so pale. Reiner had opened the beer cooler and was slightly drunk as he kept cuddling Annie while their boyfriend and husband played with their children. Mikasa was slipping her beer with Armin’s red arm over her shoulders. She drank the scene in.

“Eren...Eren, you should be here.” she thought as she tried to control the heavy pounding of her heart. A small tear fell on Armin’s arm.

Armin pressed a kiss to the top of Mikasa’s head. Annie rose her eyebrows at that and patted Mikasa’s knee. After a moment Armin and Mikasa got up from the cool sand to walk on the edge of the sand and water. A few more tears fell from Mikasa’s eyes.

A understanding silence.

“Do you remember last fourth of July? Dennis and Mia kept asking Eren to throw them into the water. Annie kept yelling at him to stop throwing her kids while Reiner and Connie kept laughing. Poor Bert. He went into the water to get Mia and Eren accidently threw Dennis at Bert’s face”

Mikasa chuckled as she wiped her tears

“I remember. Annie wouldn’t stop yelling at Eren and Ymir put one of her tampons to stop Bertholdt ‘s nosebleed” She smiled at the memory.

“I wish he was here. He loved Jagermeisters, sparklers and the beach.” Armin let a few of his tears out.

Mikasa gently hugged Armin.

“This sucks.”

They walked for a few more minutes and returned to the canopy.

“Good, Y’all are back. Grab a Jagermeister, and a sparkler please. Dennis. Mia just get a Sunny D.” Connie called out.

Confused. Both Mikasa and Armin got a jagermeister and sparkler.

Connie stood up on one of the lawn chairs so everyone could see and hear him.

“A toast to one of the most reckless mother fuc-..brats, sorry Annie, ah..reckless brat, Eren Jaeger... Dude. we love you and miss you”

“TO EREN FREAKING JAEGER!” Sasha drunkenly yelled out.

“TO EREN FREAKING JAEGER!” everyone yelled out.

Everyone lit their sparklers and slipped their jagermeisters.

Soon after, The adults were tired and the two kids fell asleep. They headed back to the Springer’s house. Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt went upstairs to wash and put their kids to bed. The rest of the group hung out in the living just chatting.

“You know. I never would’ve met my lovely fiance without Jaeger” Ymir spoke first.

“Really?” Sasha asked while slipping her beer.

“Really, Like Y’all knew each other from your small ass high school, than to the local college. Me and Bert weren’t from around there so we didn’t know anybody. I got paired with Jaeger for some speech project and for proof reading and he suggested my little Story” Ymir said as she pulled Historia into her lap to snuggle.

“That funny, without Eren I would have never met my husband or considered a polyamorous relationship with Reiner, which is kinda funny considering I dated him in high school.” Annie said as she downstairs.

“Oh my gosh! I had forgotten you dated Eren in high school!” Historia exclaimed.

“Hold up. you and Eren dated?” Ymir said shocked.

“During his junior year and my senior year. He joined the martial art club and after training with him we started dating, before he discovered out he was ace. The breakup was mutual so there wasn't any bad feelings.” Annie continued as she got a glass of water. “He introduced Bertholdt to me during a study group session, a few years later he gave me some surprisingly good advice to just talk to both of my boys about a poly relationship.”

“Eren actually gives good advice...I mean..He gave good advice.” Mikasa says as she leans on Armin’s arm.

“He had one hell of a temper. In middle school him and Jean would fight over the crappy things. Once he went off at the security guard and got detention for two weeks” Armin recalled fondly.

“He fought for what he believed in. I admired that about him” Historia said quietly.

Everyone agreed with her statement. They said their goodnights and went to their guest rooms.

                                   ………………………………

The morning brought sunshine and a few hangovers. Ymir, Sasha and Connie gave coffee and took painkillers while everyone else drank orange juice and ate pancakes. Mia cut holes in her pancake and tried to placed the pancake on her face until Annie scowl at her to stop playing with her food. Mikasa let out a big laugh at Mia (Much to the little girl's delight) and helped clean off any syrup from Mia’s face. By noon all the cars were packed up and ready to return home.

“Drive safely and call us when you get home!” Sasha called out as Historia began to drive out of their driveway.

“We will!” Armin answered for the carload.

Mikasa slept on Armin’s shoulder during the car ride home. Historia took pictures of a smiling Armin and took quite a few pictures of Ymir flipping off the camera.

Ymir and Historia dropped off the two at Armin’s house. After they unloaded their stuff, Armin and Historia made plans for lunch for the week. He waved at them as they drove off from his house.

Mikasa was sitting on his couch holding a single sparkler.

Armin came back in the house and motioned for Mikasa to follow him.

The drive was filled with shitty pop music that both Mikasa and Armin loved.

They drove up to the cemetery where Eren’s tombstone was.

Armin looked around for any people visiting their loved ones while Mikasa lit the sparkler. She stepped back and watched the sparkler give off it bright colors.

“Happy Fourth of July, Eren.” Armin said quietly.

Chapter Text

August

“I think that’s the last box” Reiner said as he sat down a cardboard box.

“Yeah, it is. The only thing left in his apartment is the sofa and the big dresser” Mikasa  answered.

“Berty has the truck and he’s picking up Armin so they can drop the furniture at the goodwill.” Annie’s voice came from the kitchen.

Mikasa looked around her apartment. She had moved most of her furniture to the other side of the apartment to make room for the boxes of Eren’s belongings. She grabbed the nearest box and started to look through it. She picked the box of books. The books were mostly about the armed forces. “I forgot...He used to want to join the army in high school. Thank goodness he never enlisted.” she thought silently. There was also some comic books and other non fiction and fiction books.

“If you find anything Dennis or Mia would like, go ahead and put it aside. Eren has so much crap that Armin and I will probably just donate.” Mikasa mentioned as she wrote ‘donate’ on the box of books.

Annie quietly nodded and sorted through kitchen appliances and kitchenware while Reiner looked through Eren’s huge collection of movies.

An hour passed and the three had filled 4 boxes marked for donation. Various clothes, books, movies, kitchenware, and bedding.  Mikasa folded a blue and gold quilt. “I remember helping Carla make this for your 11th birthday. You were obsessed with the ocean and desert” She held the quilt in her arms for a moment before walking to her bedroom and laying the quilt over her comforter. 

She came out of her bedroom and saw Bertholdt and Armin in her kitchen. Annie and Reiner were gathering their things and a box of things they wanted to keep.

“We have to go pick up the kids from Ymir and Historia’s but let us know if you need anything” 

“Thanks, Bert. Mikasa and I will let you know” Armin said as he walked them to the door.

“Me, Annie and Reiner went through half of the boxes, The boxes by the door are for donating and if you want anything you can put the stuff in my kitchen or bedroom”

The two quietly sorted through a box each.

Armin came across Eren’s memory box. The one Armin gave him when they were 15, so Eren could keep his sentimental stuff in one place to avoid the chances of being thrown away when Grisha got angry at Eren’s messy bedroom.

Armin opened the box to find several items like, movie ticket stubs, the playbill to “RENT” and a knife.

“Mikasa, Can you look at this?” He asked holding the knife farthest away from his body as he could.

Mikasa got off her couch and walked towards Armin. She took the knife and examined it closely. The knife had black handle and a slightly rusted blade…

“No..It can’t be..I..I haven’t seen this knife since I was nine years old.” She took a deep breath “Er..Eren kept it? I..I can’t believe it” She was shaking as she tried to process this information.

Armin guided her to the couch and took the knife out of her trembling hands.

“No...Why would want to keep it? Why would he keep such a cruel reminder of that day? Why Eren?” Mikasa said to herself. Her heart began hurting. “God dammit Eren..Why?” her breathing was coming out un rhythmic and heavy.

Armin saw the signs of a full blown panic attack about to happen.

“Mikasa. Take a deep breath and listen to my voice. I need you try and take a deep breath” Armin said as soft as he could.

He could remember the last time she had a panic attack and he remember how awful it was for her. He sat closer to her but not touching her in case it might cause her to panic more. He breathed  she took a deep breath. They stayed like that for a few more minutes. Mikasa calmed down enough to explain.

“You remember when the Jaegers adopted me? we were about seven or eight. This happened about a year after that….One day we were visiting a relative of Carla’s. I don’t remember the relation but we were in Louisiana. Eren and me were..We were playing by ourselves in the park down the street. There were these two guys. They..They tried to kidnapped me. One of them dropped this knife and Eren got it and stab him.”   She looked at Armin   

“He stabbed him in the leg. The guy didn’t get seriously hurt but managed to run away. The second guy...He tried to kill Eren but I grabbed this knife.”

Mikasa gestured to the knife of her coffee table. “ I cut his arm really bad. He let go and ran…..We didn’t tell Carla what happened. We decided to keep it a secret...I saw Eren throw this knife away in a creek. Why does he still…”

She let her sentence die off.

She felt Armin’s familiar touch as he grabbed her hand. She felt his thumb finger trace a circle on her pinkie.

They stayed like that for a few minutes. Armin doesn’t tell her that he knew the story. Eren had told him what happened but years later. As he held her hand he kept asking himself why Eren still had the knife. He was fine not knowing the answer.

Mikasa spoke first.

“I want you to get rid of it...I don’t want it.”

“Okay.” He took the knife and put it in a box he was keeping.

She let out a puff of air and pushed herself off the couch to grab one of the last boxes.

They finished looking through his boxes that evening. Armin only kept Eren’s T shirts from high school and college. The two loaded Armin’s car with the boxes marked for donation. Since it was late, Mikasa invited him to spend the night. They watched a few episodes of Bob’s Burgers in Mikasa’s bed and fell asleep.

Two weeks later.

The first day of school.

Armin had been hired as an Kindergarden teacher at his old elementary school. The school district had 3 elementary schools, a middle and high school.  He and his group of friends had gone through the schools and enjoyed school for the most part.

He waited outside his classroom to greet his students. According to his roll sheet he only had 12 kids in his class. He quickly checked his phone for the time and saw he just a few text messages.

Story: Good luck on your first day!

Ymir: Try not to bore your kids on the first day

Connie: Duuuuuuude

Connie: Yo be gr8 man :)

Armin sent a quick “Thank you” to them before putting his phone back in his pocket.

Waves of kids and their parents walked through the hallways. Most of the parents stop and look at the paint job on the walls. The garden painted on the walls have stayed the same for 20 or more years. Most of the parents had gone to this elementary school when they were kids.

“Mom! Daddies! ITS UNCLE ARMIN!” Armin heard a familiar squeal

He turned around and felt Mia ram into his legs. He got on one knee to talk with Mia.

“You didn’t tell us you were going to be our teacher!” Mia said excitedly.

“Last week you were kinda sad about starting school so I thought I’d keep this a surprise. Were you surprised?

Mia giggled and gave him another hug. Armin looked up to see Reiner snapping picturing of them.

“Dennis, aren’t gonna give Armin a hug?” Annie asked him as she took out her phone.

Dennis nodded quietly behind Bertholdt and walked over to Armin to give him a nervous little handshake.

“A very good handshake, Dennis, but... you can give me hug too if you want” Armin said with a chuckle.

Dennis hugged Armin and whispered “I’m scared.”

Armin whispered back “It’s okay, I’m here and so is Mia”

Directed towards Annie, Reiner and Bertholdt he said “When you told me they were starting kindergarten here, I asked my friend in the office if I could have Mia and Dennis in my class, there wasn’t rules against family or family friends teaching the kids so they put them in my class.”

Since more kids and parents were quickly trying to find their classrooms, Annie, Bertholdt and Reiner quickly took a few pictures, said goodbye to their kids and Armin before leaving. Mia and Dennis went in the classroom to play while Armin greeted the kids and parents that were coming in.

Soon all 12 of his kids were in his classroom playing. At 9 o’clock he sat down his students and introduced himself.

“Good morning students! I’m your teacher Mr. Arlert”

“Good morning Mr. Alert!” The kids called out.

“AR-lert. Mr. Arlert” Armin corrected nicely.

About half the kids got it right the second time. ‘Well, practice makes perfect’ He thought as he continued.

“Every morning, you’ll put your backpack on those hooks and until the class bell rings, you can play with anything in the toy chest. when that class bell rings you come to your spot on the floor”

He had the kids stand up so he could show the rows of red circle cut outs with each child’s name on them. The kids were able to find their names on the circles and sat down again. He taught the kids the Pledge of Allegiance, and started a mini math lesson.

By lunch time he was pooped out. He wasn’t on lunchroom and recess duty this week so he went off campus to meet Mikasa at a nearby cafe.

He walked through the doors and saw Mikasa sipping coffee at a corner booth. She looked more beautiful than usual, she was dressed in business clothes and had her barely used brief case with her.

“Why so dressed up? you look lovely” He said as he sat down.

“I just came back from a job interview. It was for Akin’s Theatre company, their accountant is retiring, Ymir suggested me for a interview” She took another sip of her coffee.

“I forgot Ymir worked part time there. How do you think it went?”

Before Mikasa could answer their waiter asked for their order. They both got sandwiches and fries since Armin only had an hour until he had to be back at the school.

“Where were we?’’

“I asked how your interview went, Kasa” He added her nickname with a smirk.

“Oh, it went fairly well. Ymir recommended me so I think the interviewer was more..Open? I think to talk to me about the duties that come with working at the theatre accounting wise. They recognized me by name. They remembered I did a musical theatre camp with you and Eren.”

“Really? We must have been 14 or 15”

“The interviewer has an impressive memory and started to sing before this short guy told them to shut up. It was pretty funny.”

The food came so they ate quickly with a few words.

“My lease is up next month. I don’t like my apartment and Eren used to say that his apartment complex was better. Renew my lease or look for a new place..I just ..I don’t know, what do you think I should do?” She took a last bite of her sandwich.

“I never really liked your apartment building or Eren’s but maybe I’m biased because I have my grandfather’s house.” He took a sip of his water.

“Yeah.”

They paid their bill and Armin walked Mikasa to her car.

“Still coming over later to watch Rizzoli and Isles?” He asked as she rolled her window down.

“Yeah, I’m bringing the Dublin and chips”

“See ya at 6”

She drove off. Armin quickly drove back to the school and arrived in time to greet his students from recess. Poor kids he thought as he saw how sweaty and red they all were. Its the end of August but in it was still in the triple digits in Texas. He turned on the two box fans he brought and read the first chapter of Harry potter and the sorcerer's stone to them.

The afternoon went by quickly. After reading, he let them play for the rest of the day, he observed them. There was only four girls in the class and 8 boys and so far none of them had problems getting along.  Soon the bell rang and Armin lead his class outside to be picked up. Within twenty minutes all his kids and most of the other elementary schoolers had been picked up.

An hour later he went home. An easy first day and judging by how well behaved his kids were, he was going to hope for more easy days.

..........................

He had finished unpacking the boxes of Eren’s things and his second bedroom was a mess. He started cleaning. The house was his grandfather’s and after he died, Armin got it. Luckily the house was built a few years after Armin was born and was paid off before he inherited it. He dusted the empty bookshelves and went to the hallway closet to grab the vacuum.

‘Maybe I should get a dog...Or a cat” He thought.

‘I could just ask Mikasa to move in. She comes over at least two times a week. She keeps her apartment organized….I like her company, even when we’re working..The guest room is hardly used. I’ll talk to her about it” In their last year of college, Armin, Mikasa and Eren had shared an apartment for a few months and it was fairly enjoyable.

“Armin?” He heard Mikasa call for him as his front door opened.

“In the guest room cleaning”

“I got the black cherry Dublin that you like and the root beer flavor.” Mikasa said as she pulled two glasses out of Armin’s cabinet.

She heard him shuffling around with a vacuum while she turned on the TV and opened a family sized bag of potato chips.

“It’s starting!” She called as the credits rolled for the show before Rizzoli and Isles.

Armin hopped on the couch and grab a handful of chips before focusing all his attention to the show. Mikasa found it cute how he gripped her hand when the show got intense and funny when he would correctly guess who killed who.

Soon after the episode ended, Armin and Mikasa watched an episode of Bob’s Burgers and finished their drinks and chips. Armin open his laptop to find a new message from Marco

Mbodt234: Hey Armin! Sorry I haven’t replied to your messages. Jean and I haven’t had internet connection and we got swept away with everything in Europe :) Jean lost our calling cards and things have been CRAZY but a good crazy. I wanted to wished you a good luck for the first day of classes. Also we’re returning August 28, Jean’s Mother is picking us up, but we’re leaving the 30th for Corpus Christi since my classes start the next week.  

We miss y’all and can’t wait to tell you everything

“Did he send that message to everybody else?”Mikasa asked as she read it over Armin’s shoulder.

“He didn’t say but tomorrow I’ll tell Annie and Story, Can you call Sasha and Connie tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’ll tell them tomorrow.”

Armin continued using his laptop while Mikasa watched another episode of Bob’s Burgers. Mikasa put her head on his shoulder and wrapped herself with one of his blankets. “I could really get used to this” Armin thought.

“Have you thought anymore on whether you’ll renew your lease?”

“I still don’t know, I’m looking at the apartment complex by the community college tomorrow, Why?”

“I was thinking that you’d like to move in here, the guest room is never used and..I like having you here” His cheeks turned red at the last statement.

“Really? I thought you liked living by yourself”

“I do like my alone time..But there’s a fine line between alone time and lonely. I passed that line a few times already. I think it would good if you moved in but I would understand if you wanted your own place”

Mikasa looked at Armin in surprise. She leaned against the back of the couch and stared at the ceiling. Armin looked curiously at her, waiting for any response. ‘Well, money wise moving is good, and I’ve always liked having Armin around..” She pondered a few more minutes before turning to face Armin.

“If I did move in..How would rent payment work?”

‘Of course the logical questions first’ He thought fondly.

“Half of the utilities bill and internet/ cable bill and help around the house….I’m thinking it’ll be similar to how it was senior year in the apartments”

“Mmh...I do like having a roommate and I do spend a lot of time here. When would you want me moved in?”

“When you want, your lease is up soon so anytime before or after, preferably on the weekend so I can help you move.”

“Alrighty than”

A few days later…..

“I just got the call from Akin’s Theatre, I got the job.” Mikasa voice happily flowed through his phone.

“That’s great! Congrats!” He smiled into his phone.

“Thanks, I start next Monday and only have to come in four times a week, and I can figure out my hours with the other accountant on staff.”

“I’m so happy for you Kasa”

“I also talked to my landlord, paid my last month so we’re good to move my stuff in this weekend.”

“Awesome, I’ll talk to Reiner about borrowing his truck when he picks up Dennis and Mia. See you tonight.”

“See you later”

That weekend….

Mikasa loaded her last box in her car. She locked her apartment door for the last time with a smirk. She went downstairs to the office of her landlord to turn in her keys, with a polite handshake and a goodbye she was officially moved out of her apartment.  As she drove out of her old neighborhood her phone rang.

“Hey Annie.”

“Hi Mikasa, Historia just called me to tell you and Armin that her and Ymir are throwing a welcome back for Jean and Marco on September 6 at 4 and to bring a few Dr peppers liters”

“Oh, okay, I’ll tell Armin”

“So...You’re going to live with Armin?’

“Yes” Why are you asking the obvious?

“I’m just surprised is all. I didn’t think you would actually live him, by yourself in a empty house..”

“Well, Armin been thinking about getting a dog or cat so I wouldn’t say an empty house.”

Mikasa heard a chuckle from Annie and the sound of Mia asking to speak to Mikasa.

“Hi Auntie Kasa!” a rush of heat went to Mikasa’s heart.

“Hello Mia” she said with a smile.

“I just wanted to say hi! I see Uncle Armin at school all the time but I never see you. Its weird calling him Mr. Alert but I like having him as my teacher”

“That’s good to hear. I’m sure Armin would love to hear that.”

“NO! That’ll be super embarrassing”

Mikasa laughed as Annie got back on the phone,

“Annie, that child can’t be yours, she’s too funny”

“Oh fuck you Mikasa” She could hear the smirk on Annie’s face.

“Motherhood mellowed you out though, you gotta admit that”

“Yeah.. it has. Shit. Never thought I would be married and have 2 kids before the age 25”

Mikasa chuckled “Someone’s getting reflective”

“Another ‘perk’ of Motherhood I guess.”

They chatted until Mikasa reached Armin’s house. Mikasa heard Bertholdt in the background asking Annie where the first aid kit was and Annie asking was the hell was going on. She smiled and said her goodbyes before hanging up.  She grabbed a box from the backseat when Armin walked up to the car.

“Last trip?”

“Yup.”

Armin took the last box and Mikasa held the door open for him. With few words they unloaded her car and unpacked her boxes. Armin came across an old photo of the three of them. Eren was in the middle smiling big with Mikasa and himself on either side of him. He lightly touched the photo as that familiar ache in his chest awaken. He felt Mikasa’s hand on his shoulder and a gentle squeeze. He put the photo on her drawer and continued to help her unpack.

Chapter Text

September-4 months

“We were stranded in the middle of nowhere in some countryside in France, I can’t remember but there was this big field of sunflowers, and out of nowhere this tiny grizzly dog popped out of nowhere and scared the crap out of Jean and he pissed his pants”

“MARCO! you promised not to tell that story!”

Mikasa laughed at the two boys as Marco snaked his arm around Jean’s waist.  ‘Fucking losers’ She thought as Marco kissed Jean’s cheek.

“Come on now! Tell me more about Europe, you were gone for 4 fucking months and barely contacted us” She gave the two a stern look as she drank the last of her wine.

“You know Jean, he didn’t want to upgrade his phone, and my phone broke.” Marco replies as he pours wine into Mikasa’s glass. “We actually have news but we’re waiting till everyone shows up”

She sits down next to Annie, whose nursing her own glass of wine. They see Jean slouching down to attempt to give Dennis a high five while the boy turns aways with a look of pure annoyance….’Definitely Annie’s child’ Mikasa chuckles softly. Annie looks on proudly at her son.

“Jean drank all the Dr pepper and Dennis is mad at him” Bertholdt explains as he sits down next to his wife.

“When’s Armin coming back from that meeting?’

“He should’ve been here by now...I don’t know..I just..don’t know” Mikasa let her speech slur a little. She let herself curl around the couch pillow. She takes another sip of her wine

“Maybe you should take it easy on the wine-remember New Year’s?” Annie said with a smirk.

“Oh fuck no..Jake..La ..Take my glass away”

“Shit, y’all work fast, Mikasa already confusing her words” Armin said as he entered the room. He smiled as her as he took her glass away.

“Arm.Armin, how did your meeting go?’

“It was fine, boring teacher stuff. Honestly I spent most of the meeting reading my book” He answered as he gave Marco a tight hug.

“I missed you so much! Tell me about France and all the other countries y’all went to.” He gave a weak punch to Marco arm

Smiling, Marco asked “Where do you want me to start?’’

“Dennis! I haven’t had Dr.pepper in MONTHS! Stop glaring at me!”

Armin and Marco turned to see Dennis still glaring at Jean. They both chuckled as Mikasa and Annie giggled at Jean’s pleading expression at the little boy. Annie motioned for Dennis to come talk to her.

“Dennis, As much as I love it when you stare people down, can you calm the hell down? Your daddy getting the food and I told him to get you a drink but you won’t get the drink if you don’t start being nice to Jean”

“But daddy said I can be mean to Jean”

‘Goddammit Reiner’ Annie murmured “Honey..No. Just go be nice to Jean or go play outside with your sister, Ymir and Historia.”

Dennis nodded solemnly and ran to the backyard to play. Mikasa giggled at the annoyed look on Annie’s face.

“He still doesn’t know when Reiner jokes” Bertholdt said as he rubbed his wife’s back as she drank the last of her wine.

“Babe, remind me to scold Reiner when he shows up with the food.” He nodded and held Annie.

‘How cute.’ Mikasa thought as she watched them. ‘Must be nice to be that close to someone-’

“Move over” Armin said as he interrupted her thoughts. He brought her a glass of water and Marco and Sasha followed him.

“Did you go to the Globe theatre?’ Bertholdt asked

“We did! It was amazing. We weren’t planning on watching a show but this couple asked us if we were free and gave us free tickets. So of course we take them and they were playing Romeo and Juliet. We were in the pit, the no sitting area, and we were standing near the front of the stage. Usually I get bored by Shakespeare but I found myself really getting into the play. Jean loves Romeo and Juliet so he ate it up.”

Marco grinned as he told them that. Armin thought to himself ‘I just want to travel the world with someone I love’ he glanced over at Mikasa before turning his attention back to Marco.

“It’s 6:30 so Connie and Reiner should be here with the food any minute.’ Sasha said as her stomach growled.

“I’m starving-Where is our boyfriend, Bert?’ Annie added as she checked her phone.

Ymir bursted into the living with Mia on her back.

“Where the hell is daddy? Me and Dennis are hungry! So’s Auntie Ymir!” Mia exclaimed loudly.

“Mia, don’t use the word ‘hell’, dear.” Bertholdt said sternly.

“Your daddy hasn’t answered my texts but he’ll be here soon”

As soon as Annie spoke, Historia, Jean and Dennis came in the house, followed by Reiner and Connie holding the assortment of food.

“Traffic was bad, my loves, Also we ended up with the wrong order so we had to go back and wait for our right order and stop at Mcdonalds to get Jean and Dennis their drinks.” Reiner explained before his girlfriend and boyfriend could question him.

Connie and Historia got the plates from the cabinets and everyone lined up buffet style to get food. Everyone was seated while Ymir refilled wine glasses.

“Jesus, Jean, you’re drinking that Dr.pepper like it’s crack”

“Oh fuck you, Ymir, I couldn’t get two things overseas- internet and Dr.pepper”

“You could have gotten Dr. pepper in Britain dear” Marco said with a mouthful.

“I wasn’t going to pay three times as much for half a serving”

“Shut up” Marco said with a kiss to his forehead causing Jean to blush. Armin and Mikasa chuckled at the exchange. As they were eating, Jean told the group of their train mishap of how Marco got drunk in Scotland and fell asleep leaning on an older lady’s lap, much to Marco’s dislike. About halfway through eating, Jean and Marco stood up and Marco started talking.

“So four years ago on July 10th, we met at A&M freshman get together and just clicked...So about a year ago I jokingly proposed to Jean to see where our relationship was and.. he fainted. I told him after he was awake that I was just kidding but..‘hey now I know how you feel about that’..This past July, We were in Britain, on the night of our anniversary, we were on a midnight boat ride and we were the only two passengers. We were joking around and dancing..I attempted to propose but this fucker beat me to it and asked me to marry him. ”

“Damn”

Jean and Marco looked so happy as everyone tried to hug them and say congratulations. Mikasa stayed seated next to Armin, she gave a small smile when Jean looked at her, and Armin put his arm around her loosely.  Marco walked to them to get a hug from the two of them.

“When’s the wedding date?” Historia asked.

“We haven’t decided but sometime next Fall”

Jean went around showing a thin silver band on his ring finger. Historia brought out more wine out. Her and Sasha served everyone a glass and handed the two kids a capri drink pouch. Ymir raised her glass and the others followed. “To these two fuckers!” they all took a drink. Jean spoke up after.

 “Where the fuck is Jaeger? I haven’t seen him since we’ve back and he isn’t here. I have to rub my ring in his face"

 
The whole room went silent. Mikasa felt the smile on her face dropped and her chest tighten.

“Wait, why are y’all staring at me?”

“Y..You d-don’t know?” Armin’s voice quivered. Mikasa felt him shiver.

“Know what? What the fuck is going on?”

“Mia. Dennis, go to the guest room and watch TV” Ymir quietly told the kids. Dennis sensed the tension the room and scampered off to the guest room.

“Eren died a few months ago” Reiner looked down as he spoke, holding Mia’s hand.

“Bullshit!”

“This isn’t a horrible joke...is it?” Marco asked as he saw Ymir’s bewildered look and the tears in Armin’s eyes.

“I emailed you asking to call us and tried calling on your skype” Connie said quietly. Marco shoulders started shaking.

“ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS- “

Jean dropped his glass and his voice uneven.

“HOW?”

It was a simple question...Why couldn’t she answer him?
Mikasa heard Marco sobbing and saw Historia walking over to him. She also saw Connie with his tears and holding Sasha’s hand. She was vaguely aware of how much she was shaking.

“How?” He asked again.

Armin felt his body seize up. No one could say anything. He saw Annie put her hand on his shoulder.

“Mom said he was in motorbike accident” Mia spoke up as she held her daddy’s hand.

“Mia, go to Dennis” Annie said, she waited till her daughter left the room before speaking. “Eren died last May, a few days after you two left.”

Jean was shook up, Mikasa could see the frustration and sadness confusing his thoughts, she felt the same thing. ‘How could you not have known?’

“Jean, baby” Marco lovingly said as he stood up and reached out to him.

“I need some fucking air” Jean hissed as stormed out of the house. The slam of the door echoed.

Marco sobbed as he watched his love leave. Armin was crying as he glanced around the room. Ymir went to check on the kids, Reiner was holding Bertholdt and Annie leaning against the wall with a sad look. Mikasa just stared ahead.

Without a word. Mikasa stood up and walked out of the house.

                            ……………………………………………………………...

She closed the front door quietly and asked herself where Jean would go. She wandered around the neighborhood. She walked through the streets calling out Jean’s name. She ignored the vibrations coming from her phone.

“I asked the others to contact them. I remember asking Connie…” She stopped at the corner of a playground where Jean was sitting on one of the metal swings.

She walked slowly towards Jean. She saw his shoulders shake and a cry.

“Oh, Jean” she felt a smallest prick in her heart. She sat down on the swing next to him and waited for him to acknowledge her presence.

After a few minutes he spoke.

“I..I googled him...Did he really just died a few days after I left?..” He took a deep breath.

“He is..was..such a reckless kid. In 8th grade I snuck out to ride with him on his first moped. That jackass tried to go on Dawson's road going 35 when the road was 50….”

“I remember he tried to sneak back in the house and Grisha was waiting for him in his bedroom.” she grinned softly. “ Grisha said ‘Eren, if you are going to sneak out of this house in the middle of the night, just be quiet, I’m trying to sleep.’ and told Eren they would talk later.”

“I think Grisha thought we were dating at one point.”

“Oh he did. When we dated he kept asking if you were trying to ‘un-gay’ yourself or trying to get back at Eren.”

She saw Jean crack a small smile at that.

“I loved him. He’s the one who made me question my sexuality.”

“I swear like, half of our friends fell for him at one point or another...He somehow became this..sexuality and gender guru or something for our group. Hell, he basically made this group. Haven’t you noticed that no one is straight?”

Jean chuckled. “Well Sasha is.”

“I always forget that since she’s married to Connie”

Mikasa looked at Jean as he snorted towards the ground. She pushed his swing and began swing too. The screeching of the rusted metal swings didn’t bother them. Jean was letting her comfort him in a indirect way. Jean eventually let himself talk of Europe. He told her about meeting Marco’s family in Italy and how tried to act polite but ended up insulting Marco’s aunt and cursed badly in front of a priest.

“You had quite the adventure with your boy-betrothed”

“Geez, Mikasa going all fancy on me. Just say fiancé. And yes I did. Just being with him in the most beautiful places...fuck, even being him at the grocery store is great. There’s no way in hell I wouldn’t marry him. For a month it was just us two traveling. I loved not having phones..being cut off from the rest of world was fucking amazing....”

The happy expression painted on his face faded and he shut his eyes to avoid tears. Mikasa waited for him to calm himself. He gulped.

“How exactly did he die?”

“Technically from blood loss” she answered ‘Please don’t-”

“He didn’t get killed in the motorcycle?”

Her chest tighten. After a deep breath she answered “He didn’t die on impact..He made to the hospital. He had several broken bones..Armin and I saw him...so broken”   

Her voice breaks and looks down at the ground and carries on.

“Eren had some breathing tube..it covered half of his face….so many bruises. His arm and leg in casts...He looked so damn small and I couldn’t do anything….The last time I held his hand, only for a few seconds before a nurse took me and Armin to sign some paper work. A few minutes later Eren is flat lining and..we lost him”

Mikasa lets herself weep and lets her tears drop down her face. Jean stands up from the swing to hug her. kneeling on the dirt and wraps his arms around her.

Mikasa lets Jean hold her while she cries. She feels his body twitch everytime he sobs. After a while Jean loosen his embrace and holds her hands. They look at each other sympathetically and both stand up and walk together back to Ymir and Historia’s house.

                   ……………………………………………………………...

They approached the house and saw Ymir smoking.

“You didn’t answer your fucking phones. The Springles went home with Annie’s brood. Marco and Armin are fucking worried. They’re in the living with Story.” She took another puff before putting out her cigarette and walking into her house.

Mikasa and Jean followed her wordlessly and entered her house.

Historia was sleeping on one side of the couch and Armin was on the other.

“Jean!” Marco exclaimed as he pulled his fiancé in his arms.

“I’m sorry I ran off..I needed to be-”

“I know, you jackass, but you could’ve at least answered your damn phone.”  Marco said sternly.

“Mikasa, you okay?” Armin asked as he walked towards her.

“I’m okay.” she reached for his hand.

“Now that everyone ‘okay’ y’all can go home. it’s really late” Ymir told them as she picked up Historia.

They whispered goodbye and locked the door behind them.

They lingered on the porch for a little bit. Armin broke the silence.

“Did you want to visit Eren’s grave?’’

Jean and Marco both nodded and drove behind Armin and Mikasa.

At the cemetery,they hopped the fence and walked to Eren’s grave. Marco started crying again and Jean mumbled a jewish prayer next to him. Mikasa held Armin and wiped some of his tears away. After a time, the four decided to leave.

At their car Jean and Marco said their farewells and hugged Armin and Mikasa one more time from leaving to Corpus Christi. On the car ride home Mikasa and Armin were quiet and let the radio music fill the quiet. After a station change a song song played...

‘What if I'm far from home?

Oh brother, I will hear you call!

What if I lose it all?

Oh sister, I will help you hang on!

Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you

There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do’’

They let the song continue playing.

Chapter Text

October 15, 2014

“Halloween in 2 weeks, would you like to help me decorate? I was thinking playing some halloween movie clips on the projector” Armin asked over breakfast.

“I don’t mind helping but you usually put christmas decorations during November so you shouldn’t go all out of the Halloween stuff when its so close to date.” She responded as she smeared jam on her toast.

“True..But Halloween’s fun” He said with a grin and they both continued eating.

At 8am they both left the house to go to their jobs.

Armin opened his classroom door and began preparing for the day.  Soon later, he heard the footsteps of students and teachers in the hallways before the school bell rang. With a smile he got up from his desk to stand by the door to greet his students.

After his 12 students came to class and got them started on their morning activities he checked his school’s email and discreetly checked his phone for any messages. He saw a text from Mikasa.

Mikasa: Halloween decor with X mas stuff and show clips of the nightmare before christmas. Than for Xmas we just take down the Halloween decor

Armin: Alrightly :)

He smiled.

              …………………………………………………………………….

A few days later the two were setting up christmas light and had all of Armin’s Halloween decorations scattered on his porch.

“Fucking christmas light” Mikasa muttered as she tried to untangle different sets of christmas lights. Armin chuckled as he arranged the inflatable Boogeyman and a snowman. A few times the two got curious looks from his neighbors. The rest of the street was already decked out in Halloween decorations.

“How Adkins's treating you? You haven’t really talked about your job the past week?

“I’ll be better when November comes around” She answered as she successfully pulled one strand of christmas lights out from the tangled ball of lights.

“Praytell..?” Armin asked.

“I’ve been working late because the theatre doing a fundraiser and the mainstage show opened last week and I’ve been helping run box office since the guy who works box office got sick. At least in November the fundraiser will be over and hopefully Jack will be back working box office..Never thought I would be working at a theatre.” Mikasa answered with a slight grin.

“But you’re enjoying it, otherwise you wouldn’t be smiling your little smile” he said as he sat down.

“S-Shut up”

Armin didn’t miss the slight flush of her cheeks but decided to not tease her.

The two worked quietly as they got the Halloween decorations. Armin dressed his giant skeleton like Jack Shellington and found his Sally cut out. Mikasa was on the roof arranging some plastic reindeer that Armin had found. Mikasa sat on the roof and looked down at Armin as he was twisting the christmas lights around his front tree.  She watched him worked for a few minutes. She laughed as he tripped over a strand of lights and as looked around to see if anyone saw him. She smiled fondly and went down the ladder to help him.

“Except for the remaining christmas lights, I think we’re about done...Wanna order a pizza?

“Hell yes.” Mikasa said with a smile.

              …………………………………………………………………….

October 31, 2014

“I got the projector working and I just have to connect my laptop that has the movie and song clips. I also threw in some corpse bride and some frankieweenie and other Halloween type songs”  Armin said as he walked around his house plugging in the lights and inflatables.

“Cool, I got a lot of candy, Armin, like I’m sure we’ll have plenty of candy left over”

Around 7 o’clock the house was ready for the trick-or-treaters. Armin was outside with his buckett of candy. He had found a pair of overalls and a straw hat so he had decide to be the scarecrow from the wizard of oz.  He checked his phone, looking if Annie had replied to his text, he looked up and saw one of his students dressed like a lion.

“Mr. Alert! trick or treat!”

“Hello Michael, how’s your evening so far?” He asked the little boy as he gave him some candy.

“Good! I scared this kid when I roared!”

“That great Michael!”

“Excuse me, would you mind posing for a picture?” one of Michael’s parents asked.

“Not at all!” He said as he and Michael posed. As Michael and his parents left, Mikasa joined him on the porch.

“I haven’t seen you wear that since highschool” Armin said with a sigh.

Mikasa was wearing her old martial art uniform.

“I found it when I while I was packing for the move. It brings back some good memories. Plus Annie wearing her old uniform and we’re going spar later”

The two gave out candy and watched the song songs projected on the garage. They had lawn chairs set up incase there was any kids (or parents) that were tired and needed a short break. Around 8, Mikasa heard the familiar chatter of Annie’s brood.

“Bert, you’re so goddamn tall”

”Annie! Don’t curse in front of the kids!”

“Trick-or-treat please!"

“KIDS!” Mikasa called out. She saw Bertholdt giving his wife a piggy back ride and Reiner holding each of his children’s hand.

“Aunt Kasa!” Dennis called back to her as he ran towards her to give her a hug.

Armin stood up from his lawn chair and looked at Mikasa embracing Dennis and Mia and couldn’t help but think that she would be a great mom someday.

“Bert put me down slowly on that blue lawn chair, my leg is killing me”

Bert sat Annie down and kneeled on the ground to look at her angle.

“What happened?” Armin asked as he gave the kids candy.

“On Murry street I tripped on one of these potholes and it jacked up my leg.”

“I’ll get an ice pack” Armin said as he headed inside his house.

“Arr! I wanted to see momma fight with Mikasa!” Mia exclaimed.

“Trust me Mia, One day you’ll see us spar.” Mikasa told Mia as she sat the girl on her lap in the lawnchair.

Reiner chuckled “In high school we had to keep your Momma and Auntie away from each other cause they hated each other and got way too aggressive in matches”

“Reiner, We didn’t hate each other….We just didn’t get along”

Armin came back from the house “What are talking about?”

“How Mikasa and my wife  hated each other in high school”

“Bertholdt, we didn’t hate each other”

“Annie. You sprayed painted the C-word on Mikasa’s locker junior year and Mikasa broke your nose.” Armin laughed at the memory.

“Okay we may have hated each other but after I broke her nose we became pretty good friends, you have to admit that.”

“Woah, Mikasa, you broke Momma nose?” Dennis’s eyes widen in amazment.

“Not my proudest moment kid.” Mikasa smirked.

“TEACH ME!” Dennis shouted in excietment.

“Dennis!” Berthodlt gasped in debelief at his son.

Everyone laughed. The group talked a little more and gave more candy to other trick-or-treaters. When the trick-or-treaters stopped coming by, Armin and Reiner took down the projector while the others gathered inside the house for a movie. Majority voted for Nightmare before christmas.

“No scary movies. I want the kids to get some sleep tonight”

“Reiner, Nightmare before christmas isn’t scary so no worries.” Bertholdt chuckled as he kissed his boyfriend’s temple.

The kids selected the sing along version. Annie sat in the recliner with her leg propped up and Bertholdt sat on the arm of the chair. Reiner sat on the floor with his kids, not sure what to expect from the movie since he had never seen it. He had Dennis on his left and Mia on his right. Armin made sure to snapped a picture of them. Armin and Mikasa got food and drinks ready as the opening song played and laughed when the kids and Annie and Bertholdt started singing.

“ I AM THE WIND BLOWING THROUGH YOUR HAIR!”

“I AM THE SHADOW ON THE MOON AT NIGHT!”

They laughed at Annie and Bertholdt’s belting. They passed out drinks and popcorn and sat on the couch together. Mikasa leaned on Armin’s shoulder during Jack lament to listen to him sing whisper the words and she didn’t move. She loved hearing him sing, even when he whispered sing. She laughed when Reiner whispered “I ship it” and when he made fangirl sounds during Sally’s song.

Mikasa felt herself grin for the most part of the movie. Everyone laughed when Mia sang the oogie boogie song. She felt so content in that moment. As the movie was coming to a end, she heard Armin start to sing.

“My dearest friend, if you don’t mind, I’d like to join you by your side. Where we could gaze into the stars”

She held his hand and sang with him the last few notes.

“and sit together, now and forever, for its plain for anyone can see. We’re simply meant to be”

Chapter Text

“Sasha! Where’s the starter logs? I want to get the fire going before Annie’s brood gets here.”

“In the trunk of my car, Bubble butt!”

Mikasa lightly grinned as she laid the table cloth. It was the blue and silver tablecloth that Eren had given them for a housewarming present when Sasha and Connie had bought the beach house. She traced the outline of the seagull embroidered on one corner of the fabric.

“OOOOH MIKASA!”  Sasha called as she hurled herself on Mikasa. 

“I’ve missed you so much! I’m glad you came a few days early!”

“Sasha, I’ve missed you too.” Mikasa patted Sasha’s arms around her shoulders.

Sasha gave Mikasa a quick squeeze before letting go and putting plates and cutlery on the table. Since Sasha and Connie had bought the beach house, they had always celebrated Thanksgiving there. Mikasa smiled as Connie worked his way round the kitchen with Sasha. After years of living together they had an odd sort of synchronization. It was lovely to see.

“Earth to Mikasa. You there?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m just thinking.”

“About Aaaaarmin?” Sasha punched Connie’s shoulder.

“No..Just spacing out. I guess.”

“Yeah. The ocean air seem to do that to people.” Connie bit into a piece of cornbread.

“Sasha, do you need help with anything else?”

“Everything is done but the turkey, Annie texted me that they’ll be here in about 15 minutes, If you want to take a quick walk.” Sasha winked at her before dragging Connie back to the kitchen.

Grateful for Sasha knowing her, Mikasa stepped out of the house and walked towards the beach. She enjoyed taking walks along the beach. She passed a few houses before hitting the cool sand of the ocean. She took off her shoes and held them as she walked.

The past three days were relaxing for her. She loved the slight crunch of the sand from the dew of the morning, she liked the warmth in the afternoon, but the evening was her favorite. The sky was painted with streaks of navy and orange and the ocean sparkling. The overall atmosphere helped Mikasa collect her thoughts.

Ever since Halloween she felt more unsure of herself. She felt unsure of her feelings towards Armin. They hadn’t gotten into any disagreements but since Halloween, something had changed. Mikasa didn’t know how to describe it, but she more affectionate towards Armin. She found herself craving his attention.

Lifting her long skirt up around her knees she walked in the water. She watched the birds fly above her. The waves were gentle and there was little breeze. She spoke to herself.

“Armin is one of the people I love most...Living with him now is different then when we were in college. We’re more mature...life has changed us. We don’t have Eren with us. “ She took a deep breath  “Our... dynamic has changed, That’s why it feels so different, I should have realized it sooner...No wonder the past few weeks have felt weird.”

She laughed at her long it took for her to think of that. She turned back towards the sand and saw Armin by the community showers. He smiled and held up a towel. She smiled and walked towards him. 

“I see you’re having fun.”

“I am. It’s so relaxing.” Mikasa sprayed the shower water on her sand covered legs.

“That’s good. I noticed you seemed stressed the last few weeks.” He handed her the towel.

“Sasha says that the ocean calms the mind. She was right.”

Armin smiled at her. They walked back to the house. Armin talked of the last day of school before thanksgiving break. His students dressed as native americans and the other kindergarten class dressed as pilgrims. “Not exactly historically accurate but middle school is when you learn the harsh truth of the pilgrims.” He chuckled.

He opened the door to the beach house for her. Bertholdt waved at her while Dennis ran straight to Mikasa’s arms.

“Hey Bud.” She ruffled his hair.

“Kasa!”

“Auntie Kasa!” Mia launched herself on Mikasa. Both kids clung on to her legs.

“Uh..I don’t think this has happened to me...Armin, what do I do?”

“Hey kids, want a piece of honeydew? Connie gonna eat it if y’all don’t come!” Sasha called from the kitchen. The kids quickly detached themselves from Mikasa’s legs and ran to Sasha in the kitchen.

“I still can’t believe those are your kids Annie, they’re so affectionate.”

Annie gave a slight chuckle “They’re definitely my husband’s and my boyfriend’s children.”

A few minutes later Connie put the turkey on the table and announced that dinner was ready. Mikasa sat between Sasha and Mia. Mikasa watched the little girl putting food on her plate, Mia was doing a good job at not spilling any of mashed potatoes on the table or herself, unlike her father Bertholdt who left the table to go clean himself up in the bathroom.

Mikasa had helped Sasha and Connie with the food earlier but hadn’t tasted any of the food. She was pleasantly surprised by the corn casserole she helped Connie with. There was chatter while they ate thanksgiving dinner, Mikasa stayed quiet. She enjoyed watching her friends talk and joke with each other. As Connie went around the table pouring wine, Sasha cleared her throat and stood up.

“Soooo, I know y’all wouldn’t be interested in going around the table sharing what you’re thankful for so we won’t do that. But me and Connie have some very grown up news to you!”

“Do I and Mia have to leave the table for grown up new?” Dennis asked earnestly.

‘Beautiful cinnamon roll, too good for this world, too pure” Reiner said, proud of his son.

“Damnit Reiner, no memes at the table.” Annie grumbled as she took a sip of wine.

“Anyway, as my wife was saying, we have news. Remember last March when we asked for several letters of recommendations from you? for the fostering system. We completed our 35 hours of required PRIDE training from Child Protective Services, which means we’re now eligible to be foster parents!”

“I’m so happy for you” Mikasa stood up to hug Sasha as everyone voiced their congratulations. She felt the other girl sob happily against her. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

Sasha loosen her grip and smiled at Mikasa “We wanted to tell anyone at once. Later Connie and I are gonna to facetime the others”

“You’re all grown up!” Reiner pulled Connie into a tight bear hug.

Armin raised his glass “To Sasha and Connie!”

“Sasha and Connie!” Everyone clinked their glasses.

During dessert, Connie answered questions from Bertholdt and Annie, while Sasha explained to Dennis and Mia what foster care was. Mikasa bit into her pumpkin pie and thoughts filled her. Life was going really fast, in a few short months friends were engaged, starting grad school and now friends taking a huge step towards becoming parents. She felt proud of her friends.

After eating, everyone settled down in the Springer’s living room, Armin had set up his projector and laptop.

“So recently I found my projector and I haven’t stopped using since finding it. I found pictures of us from kindergarten and stuff that my grandpa had, and some from the Jaegers so the last few days I put together a slideshow. “ He nervously spoke as he pressed play on his laptop. Some song Mikasa didn’t recognized played.

The first few pictures were of Armin and Eren as toddlers, the second picture showed Eren pouring mud on Armin, the third picture Armin dunking Eren into birthday cake. The next set of pictures seemed to be kindergarden age. Armin, Eren and Sasha posing with finger painted posers. Jean and Armin playing dress up, oddly looking like Eren and Historia. The next picture was of Jean and Eren with bloody noses.

“I actually found a lot of pictures of Jean and Eren after fights, honestly I’m kinda surprised Mrs. K and Mrs. Jaeger let them play together so much” Armin commented as a few more pictures of Jean and Eren with various injuries showed on his slideshow.

Mikasa felt her chest tighten. The picture showing was her adoption picture. Mikasa had just turned eight, Eren was still seven. The picture was taken outside the courthouse, Carla and Grisha hugging Mikasa and Eren. After a few seconds the picture changed to Armin and Mikasa playing at the park.

Mikasa remembered the first time she met Armin. Eren was trying to get Mikasa to play on the swings so he could go on the slide. Armin and his grandpa and showed up and Eren quickly introduced the two. Armin smiled and asked if they could swing together. A few minutes later Eren was trying to push both of them and ended falling and getting smacked by Armin’s legs.  Mikasa smiled at the memory.

“Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down and I’d like to take a minute, just sit right there. I’ll tell you how I became the prince of Bel Air”

Reiner let out a squeal and soon everyone was singing along except Annie “Fucking hated this show, Full House was where it was at.” Sasha and Connie had the whole song memorized. The pictures that showed, were awkward middle school pictures, the first picture was of Eren and Armin dressed as a strawberry and a banana.

Mikasa’s favorite middle school picture was the girls in her group posing. Mikasa, Historia, Hannah, Annie, and Mina blowing kisses to the camera at various levels. The next photo was of the boys recreating the photo, the result was great. Reiner, Connie, Thomas, Franz, Eren and Armin had all posed the same way and blew kisses to the camera.

The last picture on the slideshow was of their high school graduation. 100 degree weather on the football field of their school while wearing the black robes had been uncomfortable. The picture was taken on the front steps of the school. Eren, Armin and Mikasa were in the middle with their arms around each other, Sasha and Connie with huge smiles on their faces, Mina hugging Thomas, Hannah, Franz and Jean smiling. 

“Mom, I don’t see you” Dennis said as Armin turned on the lights.

“I graduated the year before they did.”

“Guys, we’re way too young to be reminiscing over high school” Reiner said as he stood up and cracked his back. He, Annie and Bertholdt took their kids upstairs to the two guestrooms for them. Armin and Mikasa helped Sasha and Connie clean up.

“Are you sure you’re fine with me staying in your room?” Armin asked as he placed the turkey in the fridge.

“I would’ve told you if I had a problem, hand me a water bottle.”

“Okay, if you’re really sure, I really don’t mind sleeping on the couch” He replied as he handed Mikasa a water bottle.

“Thanks” She took a sip “Armin, I’m comfortable with you.” Mikasa said goodnight to Connie and Sasha before heading up to her guestroom.

Armin blushed as he turned around to the smiling faces of Sasha and Connie.

“What?”

“Dude.”

“Connie, what?”

“Nothing.”

“Just ignore us, Armin, we’re done picking up so we’re going to bed. Are you coming with us and Annie and Bertholdt to black friday shop?” Sasha asked as she nudged Connie.

“Nah, I already bought my christmas presents for everyone.”

“Okay, see ya tomorrow, Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.’

Armin went upstairs to the room, knocking first before opening the door, he waited for an answer.

“Come in.”

“Are you going Black Friday shopping with Sasha and Annie?”

“Yeah...honestly I haven’t really thought of Christmas, much less Christmas shopping.”

“I’ve only thought of it because of the commercial TV showed airing back in October.”

Armin went in the bathroom to change while Mikasa talked.

“...I was thinking of giving Mia and Dennis a theatre summer camp. Akins has one week theatre classes for younger kids, since I work there, the camp isn’t very expensive. The camp a week long and about 4 hours a day with a end of week little showcase. The twins are very expressive. I’m not really sure what to give Reiner, Bertholdt and Annie though.”

“I got them a couple’s massage. I called the place, so it’s actually a couples’ plus one massage. One of the janitors at the school works there on the weekends so I got a good deal.” Armin came out and laid down on the bed.

“That’s a good present...I’m also sending tickets to the musical to Jean, Marco and Mrs. K.”

“Discounted tickets?”

Mikasa shrugged. “Yup, surprisely I can get good deals at work.”

“I’m glad the new job is treating you great.” Armin smiled.

“I’m liking it a lot.” She positioned herself better on the bed “I really liked the slideshow, Armin, I had forgotten how we were so dorky in middle school.”

“We were, remember when Connie and Reiner went through their anime phase?”

“Oh yeah, though Connie is still in his anime phase, I remember Reiner calling Annie ‘Annie-kun’ and she thought that he called her ‘Annie-cunt’?  They both chuckled at the memory of Reiner being flipped over and falling to the ground.

An air of quietness came. Both of them settled down in the bed and faced each other. They could hear the whooshing sound of the ocean. Mikasa felt herself reaching towards Armin’s hand. A few seconds later she felt his warm hand hold her hand. They smiled and went to sleep,

Chapter Text

“Armin?”

“What?”

“Who do you like?”

Armin groaned and rolled over to face Eren. “Its the middle of the night, and you want to know who I like?”

“Well, you’re awake too, might as talk.”

Armin rolled on his back to stare at the ceiling. He felt Eren scooched closer to him and poked Armin’s nose. “Yo, I asked you a question, don’t be rude.”

“If anyone being rude its you.”

“Eh, so be it, now, who the lucky person little Armin crushing on?”

He shook his head and said “Eren, at the moment I don’t feel comfortable talking about this.”

“Arrrrmin! “ he let out a hhmp sound “Fine, I won’t ask again, but letting you that, whoever this person is...they would be so lucky to have you bro.”

“That’s sweet..Go the fuck to sleep Eren.”

“Love you Army” Eren rolled over.

Armin jerked awake. Breathing heavy and clutching at his chest. He mentally told himself to take deep breaths and count. After counting to 37, he felt himself calm down. “Just a memory..Just a memory..Just a little memory from freshmen year in high school.

Taking one last breath he pulled himself out of bed and into his shower. In the safety of his shower he quietly lets himself cry over Eren. About seven months since he died. Armin turns off the water and leans against the shower wall.

“It felt so real. Eren waking me up in the middle of the night like he always did…” A sob raked through him as he covered his mouth to muffle the sound. He tasted the salt of his tears as his body heaved through. “You have class today, W-with little kids”  he inhaled “Calm down.”  He walked out of his shower still upset. He put on his pant and shirt he had laid aside the night before and sat on the edge of his bed. Still breathing and counting. Mikasa knocked on his door.

“Hey, It’s 8:30, you’re going to be late.”

Armin felt himself shaking again and as calm as he could, he said “Call in sick.”

“Oh, do you need anything? I’ll be at the theatre til noon, I get bring you some medicine-”

“Kasa, I’m fin-” He choked out before a sob took his body.

“Okay, please text me if you need anything at all.”

He heard her footstep fade. A few minutes later he called the school, being vague in his reason for taking a day off, breathing in and out as the secretary arranged for the other kindergarten teachers to divide up his class for the day. After he ended the call, he peeled off his clothes and put on sweat pants and a old T-shirt.

He stayed in bed. He ignored his phone, ignored his laptop, and just stared out his window. His body wasn’t panicking anymore, his sobbing had reduced to a few occasional tears and felt numb. He had a quilt wrapped around him. He run his finger over the hand stitching and various patterns and shapes that made the ocean on the quilt. Carla Jaeger had made him and Eren almost identical quilts when they were 6 for Christmas. Armin wrapped the quilt tighter around himself.

He was drifting in and out of sleep when he heard Mikasa come through the door. A few seconds later he heard her knocking on his bedroom door.

“Armin, I brought soup from Ming-Fa’s, your favorite...Can I come in?”

He lifted himself out of bed and opened the door. Mikasa sympathetically patted his cheek and felt his forehead. He studied her face, her face was a mix of concern for him and worry, he gently covered her hands with his.

“Come eat the soup.” Mikasa brushed his bangs away from his face with her fingers.

Mikasa watched Armin eat the soup, while she ate her noodles. She talked briefly of her day. In production meeting, she had found out one of her bosses had the same last name as her, so now the interns and productions assistants were taking bets on whether they were married or related. Armin grinned as Mikasa told him how Ymir kept suggesting The Rocky Horror Show for the spring musical and wanted a giant metal penis as the main set piece.

“It was actually pretty entertaining when Hanji starting getting excited over the penis idea, but Erwin stepped in and said to pick a family friendly musical.”

Mikasa threw away the take out boxes while Armin went back to his room. He curled under the blanket. Mikasa stopped at his doorway, waiting for permission, before coming. Armin just reached out his hand towards. She slipped off her shoes before getting into bed with him. She pulled him towards her and held him as he drifted to sleep.

An hour later he woke up, his head on Mikasa’s chest while she scrolled through tumblr on her phone, when she noticed she put her phone down to look at Amin. She traced the features on his face, from his stumble along his jawline to his puffy eyes.

“You been crying haven’t you?”

“...Yes.”

“Oh...Army..”

He felt her rub his back. He set his head set down and he could hear her heartbeat. It gave him comfort when he thought on whether to tell her why he stayed home. He let himself relax, surrounded by the quilt and Mikasa, for another hour before getting up. Mikasa was sleeping when he left the bed, looking so peaceful, he tip toed into the living room. He scanned the bookshelf looking for his album.  The cover was red and had a thin layer of dust.

It was his Grandpa’s album. The first few photos were of his great grandparents in Sweden getting on the boat to America or getting off the boat in American. Various pictures of the Arlerts before him. The history of his his family always comforted him deeply. Towards the end of the album, he paused at the photo of his parents. In the album there was several photos of his father growing up but only 3 photos of his mother. The first photo her was her college graduation photo, the second was of her and his father and the third was a family photo. The timestamp indicated that Armin was around 3 months old. His mom and dad were holding him up towards the camera with big smiles.

“You’re awake.” He said as Mikasa walked into the living.

“I shouldn’t have slept for so long” She yawned as she settled in next to Armin.

She sat down next to him to see the pictures. The last two pages were of Armin, from baby photos to his junior year prom photo.

“How old were you were the picture was taken?” pointing to a photo of Eren and him in the bathtub.

“I think maybe two years old.”

“You two were so so cute as babies.” She lightly traced the border of the picture.

With a tremble in his voice Armin said “I miss him.”

“I know. I feel the exact way you do” and she patted his hand.

Armin breath hitched as the subtle bitterness rose in his chest. Mikasa had no idea what he was  feeling. His grief was different than her. Armin clutched the album from Mikasa and hastily put it on the shelf. Tears collecting in his eyes again that day.

“Armin..?” Mikasa called out to him as he slammed the album into its place.

“No you don’t” He whispered.

“No I don’t ..what?”

“NO YOU DON'T!” He howled at her. “You don’t exactly the same way as me.”

“Armin..” Mikasa looking at him in concern.

“My relationship with Eren was so fucking different from yours. You can’t just say that- You know NOTHIN-”  His voice ringing with sorrow.

Mikasa snapped her head and shouted “He was my brother! The only brother I ever had. I already lost my birth parents, than Carla and Grisha and now Eren. You don’t know what’s like, what it is like losing the very last of your family..”

Mikasa eyes widen in realization as she heard what she had just said. A tears running freely down her cheek as she mentally said ‘Oh Shit”. Armin stared down at the floor, not responding to her.

“Armin, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean- I know-” He interrupted her apology and in a hush tone said.

“I lost both parents before I was one. I never got the chance to know them. Mrs and Mr. Jaeger, My grandpa and now Eren. Now FUCKING EREN! Who has always been by my side since we were toddlers!”  He slammed his fist against the wall.

With thud, a small crater formed on the canvas of the wall. Mikasa looked at Armin and with a cry she reached out her hand towards him. Armin let out an agonizing sound as he slumped over as if he was in physical pain. She ran at him before he fell to the ground. She steadied the two both against the wall and sat them both down on the floor. She circled her arms around him, within seconds he was clinging on to her.

“Let it out, Armin” Her voice cracked “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry that you lost your best friend. I’m sorry you lost your brother, and I’m so so so sorry that I said that to you.”

She cupped his cheek to lift his face up. Making eye contact she whispered “I’m so sorry for your loss.” Bringing a new wave of tears. Armin pressed his forehead against and grabbed her hand.

“Thank you.” his voice waivered as he kissed her knuckles.

They sat there for a few more moments.

“Mikasa..?”

“Yes?”

“I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

She kissed the tip of his nose before standing up. She was halfway to the kitchen when Armin said “I love you.”

Mikasa turned and smiled. “I love you too.” and disappeared into the kitchen.

“More than you’ll ever know” Armin whispered as he walked back to his bedroom.

        December 23, 2014

“We repainted and fixed the some of the plumbing issues. Still a work in process, but Ymir knows what she doing.”

Historia said as she cleaned off some dirty paintbrushes. The engaged couple had recently moved into a duplex, right outside of town, and have been faced with a number of house issues already. Luckily Ymir knew her way around various house repairs.

“I love the red in the hallway.”

Historia chuckled. “That color actually caused a fight between me and Ymir. She wanted Brown and I wanted Red. She only agreed to paint Red after I offered to cut 3 guest from the wedding list. Next thing I know, that wall is painted and had frames hanging on the wall.”

Armin chuckled as he mixed the christmas nuts with sugar and cinnamon. Jean and Marco were in town today for an art workshop that Jean was teaching so Historia and Ymir were hosting a small get together. Annie and her brood couldn’t make it due to Bertholdt’s office party. Armin had spent most of his afternoon helping Historia set up for the party. First they cleaned the house and now started making food.

“Ugh. At this point, we should just order pizza or something. Its 6 o’clock already..”

“You said 6:30 on the group message-Don’t worry. Food almost ready.”

While Armin was adding in the nutmeg to his nut mix, he asked a few questions about the upcoming wedding.

“Not the wedding I wanted, but its definitely not the wedding Ymir wanted so that’s good.”

“What kind of wedding did she want?” Armin took the mix off the stove.

“She wanted to elope.”

“...That actually sounds nice, though.”

“Heh...I’m going dress shopping with Sasha and Mikasa sometime next week, do you want to come?”

“Uh, sure, I have the next week and a half off so I’ll be free. Just text me what time and place.”

“Totally will.”

The two blondes finished the food prep. While Historia was setting up the folding table to her dining table, Armin was wrapping silverware. Historia checked her christmas tree to be sure all the presents were there and hung mistletoe on the door to the backyard. Armin chuckled at her.

“Really?”

“It’s a classic, shush.”

His phone buzzed and a message from Marco telling him he and Jean were unexpectedly going to be at Historia’s house super early due to the lack of traffic.

A few minutes later, Armin heard the front open and Ymir’s voice carrying through the house.

“Baby I’m home!”

Historia came out of the dining room to hug Ymir and kiss her softly. ‘Thats adorable’ Armin thought as Ymir blushed red and stammered out a “B-Babe..” as she rubbed the back of her neck. Mikasa lingered by the doorway with a small smirk at Ymir. Armin walked over her and gave her a small hug before leading her to the kitchen with Historia and Ymir.

“January 3th to the 17th, Picasso starts running. Levi wants me there during the run to train the interns...The shitty thing is, I’m not getting paid extra for the sunday matinee shows.” Ymir said as she grabbed a beer from the fridge. “Ever since we got Niles Dok on the board of directors, he’s been fucking our system, but whatever, not my problem.” Taking a big swig of her drink she looked around.

“Damn, Story, you cooked all this?”

“Armin helped so it wasn’t a big deal.”

“Cool cool.”

Mikasa turned to Armin.

“I’m working the ticket booth during the run. Also not getting paid extra, even though it’s not my fucking job.”

Ymir rolled her eyes. “I swear, you’re the only good person we hired. Our TD is a dick and Erwin is always pissy now. One intern won’t ever close the goddamn-”

“Door!”

Jean popped into the kitchen with Marco following him. Marco‘s face was flushed with embarrassment

“JEan you can’t just walked into a person’s-”

“EYY Jeanbo!” Ymir laughed as she punched Jean’s arm.

“So I heard job complaints, what’s wrong?” Marco asked as hugged Historia. As Ymir rattled off her complaints as everyone sat down.

“Any wine, beer or soda?” Ymir asked before sitting down. Mostly everyone drank wine except for Marco and Ymir who chose beer.

Armin listened to the chatter around him. Jean starting interning at the art museum near his and Marco’s apartment. He had even showed his boss his sketchbook to his boss and three of them were going to be displayed in the next exhibit in February. Armin smiled as he watched Ymir pushed her beer into Historia’s hands urging her to drink. They were a funny couple.

“Armin, you’ve been quiet.” Mikasa says as she takes a sip of her soda.

“Just thinking. You’ve been quiet too, you know.”

She shrugged and drank the last of her wine. “Long day.”

The group finished their meals and thanked Historia and Armin. Marco gave Ymir and Historia his an Jean’s present. They opened it together, tearing the green wrapping paper off of reveal the cards against humanity game. Historia let out a squeal.

“OH you BOYS! How did you know I wanted Cards against humanity!?”

Marco grinned. “Pinterest.”

In a few minutes, wine was being poured again, the table cleaned and everyone got their cards. Jean went first.

“Listen son if you want to be involved with …….I won’t stop you. Just stay clear of ……”

After everyone handed in their cards. Jean chose Historia’s cards

-Two midgets shitting in a box

-Being a mother fucking box

Jean was laughing so hard that he stepped out to the backyard to get air. Ymir offered more wine. “I’d offered eggnog but I was too fucking tired yesterday to make it.”  Armin noticed the flush of Mikasa’s cheeks from the sweet wine. Marco went and then Ymir.

Next was Armin’s turn. “Next time on Dr.Phil, How to talk to your child about…”

Mikasa instantly smirked and laid down her card towards Armin. The others shortly gave him their cards. Armin liked the Mikasa and Marco’s cards.

Marco card said “Two girls one cup”  Armin shuddered at the memory of watching that with Eren when they were twelve.

Mikasa card said “The primal ball slapping sex your parents are having right now”

Mikasa giggled at the looks of everyone’s face. Armin just hold his card huffing out his laughs. “Damn Mikasa” Jean uttered as he started laughing. Soon everyone was laughing and Armin face was beet red. As soon as the group’s laughs died down, Armin spoke.

“It’s clear that Kasa won that point.” He said breathlessly.

Mikasa’s turn. Her black card said “I never understood …..until I encountered…..”

The others waited for Armin to hang his card. Armin smirked as Mikasa read the cards aloud. She sipped on her wine before reading Armin’s cards.

“Mutually-assured destruction…” She tossed back the rest of her wine. “Getting your dick stuck in a chinese finger trap with an another dick.” She grinned pointed to Armin for the point.

The group played another round while Historia put on Christmas music in the background.

“Jingle bells, Jingle bells, Jingle bells rock. Jingle swing and Jingle-”

“OOH! Someone dance with me-the mean girls dance! Mikasa! Marco!” Historia grabbed Mikasa and Marco.

Armin laughed as Mikasa waved her arms half-assed as Historia and Marco really got into it. swinging their hips. Marco would’ve made Regina George proud of his hip rolls.  Jean was not so discreetly filming the three dancing and Ymir cheering for Historia. Armin laughed at the way Mikasa tried to squat and roll up. Mikasa was mid squat and started giggling at Marco’s hip rolls.

Historia grabbed Ymir as the song changed into a slower Christmas song. Jean hopped out of his chair to dance with Marco. Mikasa wabbled towards the table and Armin leapt out of his chair to her. She wrap her arms around to to regain her balance. He stared at her face, flushed and smiling, he rarely got to see that. Clearing his throat he asked.

“Want some fresh air, Kasa?’

She nodded, and leaned against him as they walked out the backdoor.

It was about 40 degrees outside. The outside lamp was on and lightly lit the tree where the hammock was. Mikasa eased herself on the hammock and Armin sat down next to her. The hammock lowered and pressed Armin and Mikasa closer. Mikasa laid down to stare at the stars. Armin followed and laid now.

“There’s Capella….and Pollux.” She pointed at the dark sky. Armin slid his arm around her shoulders and lightly held her. He looked into her grey colored eyes, normally so tense but now relaxed and glowing. He felt himself blushing as she came closer. He suddenly looked up at the sky.

“T-there’s Horologium…”

He looked back down at her. Part of her bangs were covering her eyes. He moved his hand to slide the hair away. Her hair was so stuff, he gently ran his fingers through her hair, after a moment he gently touched her scar on her cheek. Mikasa cupped his face and giggled at their proximity. He giggled too and somehow their noses were bumping into each other from the giggles.

“Kasa.” he whispered.

“Army.”

She leaned in and missed his lips, She kissed the corner of his mouth. She laughed until Armin pulled her into a full kiss.

Her lips were soft and tasted of sweet wine as he kissed her. He felt her hand grab on to the collar of his shirt. He slid his hand down to the arch of her back and held her close. He smiled as she nipped at his bottom lip and doved into her next kiss with him. He felt electrified as she kissed him.

She pulled away to catch her breath. They both looked at each other and smiled. Armin pressed his forehead to her’s. She kissed the tip of his button nose.

“I’ve wanted-”

“Hey ya’ll still out here? Story putting on Home Alone, I know its your favorite Mikasa!” Marco’s voice rang out to the backyard. They heard the door close.

“Shall we go in?” Mikasa sat up and asked.

“Yeah”

They both stood up and walked to the door together. When Armin opened the door, the group was whispering, Ymir jumped up and shouted “Finally!” Mikasa entered the house.

“Finally..what?”

Ymir paused and looked up. She grinned and said “First couple under the mistletoe..you know what that means”

Jean and Marco started chanting “Kiss Kiss” and Historia grabbed her phone. Armin was standing in the doorway looking at Mikasa. She shrugged and walked towards him.

“You okay with this?” He asked when they were both standing at the doorway.

“Yes.”

Armin gave her a small peck on her lips. This kiss so different from the kiss they shared moments ago. The group whooped and hollered when they parted. She blushed and sat herself on the couch. Armin grabbed a glass of water for her than sat down next to her.

As the movie played, under the sofa blanket, the two held hands.

Chapter Text

December 27, 2014

Mikasa ran her fingers over the satin of the dress. She saw the barely noticeable uneven stitches in the fabric. Historia had chosen to go to a local dress shop to pick out her wedding dress. This peculiar shop had all their dresses handmade or made locally. She glanced down at her phone to check on her notification. Seeing none, she looked up and saw Historia in the white dress.

The dress looked stunning on her. On the bodice had small floral cut outs and had a sash over one shoulder in a greek- like style. Mikasa gave a small smile as she walked towards Historia and Armin. Sasha was animately taking pictures and gushing over the dress.

“Oh my gosh! Story. You have to get that dress! Its gorgeous!”

Historia blushed as she gave a little twirl. “I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I do, Armin picked it out and when I saw it, I was like, ‘Really..flowers?’ and I have another dress in the fitting room. But I’m actually digging this.” She moved around to get a feel for the comfortableness of the dress.

“Do you want to try on the other before making the decision?” A store employee asked.

“Sure, but I got the feeling that this is the one. Armin, Mikasa, can you look around for veil and other accorcessies for the dress? Sasha, can you help me with this dress?” Sasha and Historia walked into the fitting room. 

On the other side of the shop, the two looked at the different accessories the store had to offer. The shop had various styles of veils but not much else. Mikasa tried to focused on finding a good match for the dress. She can’t help but notice Armin’s glances towards her. She felt her cheeks warm as she turned away from him.

It had only been a few days since they had kissed. Mikasa vividly remembered the electricity that she felt when she first felt his lips on hers and the tingling that resonated with her long after the kiss. They hadn’t spoken about it since then. Mikasa could tell he was constantly thinking about it as she did. 

She felt conflicted about him. She loved the way they naturally acted around each other and the way he seemed to always understand her. She truly valued him and cared for him, however she couldn’t help but feel apprehensive about this. The past two night she had stayed awake while thinking of how to handle this new thing. She wasn’t even sure what to call it.  Love? no, no that was too strong of a word she thought-


“I think this flower clip could go well with the dress, what do you think?”

“Uh..It’s pretty so ..yes.”  

“Hey, are you okay? You seem out of it today.” His concern graze focused on her.

“Yeah. Just not enough sleep I guess. I got home pretty late from the gym last night.”

Armin nodded thoughtfully before speaking. “Honestly, I thought it was because of me. We haven’t really talked about what happened and I think we need to.”
Straight to the point. The way Mikasa preferred conservations to be. She glanced down and answered. “I know...” She glanced down down before looking up at his skyblue eyes.

“Alright, We’ll talk later tonight at home. Let’s get back to Historia, wouldn’t want her thinking we ditched her and Sasha.”

“Did you really pick out the dress that Story wore?” Mikasa asked they walked.

“Yeah. I saw the dress on their sale rack and figured she’d like to save a few dollars. “

“Smart.”

The two carried a few accessories for Historia to try on with the dress. Armin had picked a flower clip and a long flowy veil. Mikasa picked a birdcage veil and a short veil. Mikasa had just picked two random veils. Wedding dresses and other wedding stuff, she really didn’t understand or really knew about. The first wedding to had been to was Franz and Hannah during her sophomore year at college. From what she had seen at that wedding and at Annie and Bertholdt, a few years ago, they seemed pleasant and expensive.

Historia was wearing the second dress. The second dress was strapless and sleek with a bit of a train on it. It looked great on her and Sasha was beaming excitedly over it.

“I like it...but I don’t love it….” Her voice trailed off.

“I have a suggestion Miss.” The store employee spoke up. “On put on the first dress and we’ll add the accessories and see how you feel then.”

Historia nodded in agreement and went back in with Sasha into the fitting room. A few minutes later she came back out with the first dress. Mikasa gave the shop employee the veils she picked and tried each one on Historia. Historia didn’t seem to like any of them until she put the flower clip in her hair.

She bought the dress that day with the flower clip and a pair of shoes that Sasha had found. Historia was very bubbly and was couldn’t stop smiling as she drove the other three to her house for dinner. Sasha was spending the night since it was a two hour drive home and Sasha didn’t want to drive so late at night.

“Mikasa! Please spend the night! Ymir made her rum jello shots and even Annie is coming over. We haven’t had a Girl’s night in so long!” Historia exclaimed from the kitchen.

“Come on Mikasa, I’m never in town, annnnnnd.” Sasha paused for effect. “I happened to bring your favorite disney movie with meee.”

“..The Aristotle Cats?” Mikasa felt herself grin a little. 

“Yup!”

“Alright, I’ll stay and have girl’s night with ya’ll.”

Both Historia and Sasha squealed. Armin just chuckled as he sipped his water. After dinner, Mikasa walked Armin to his car, as he buckled in he rolled down the window to talk. She bent down so they were eye level.

“Have fun tonight, if you’re too drunk or hungover tomorrow, call me and I’ll pick you okay?”

“Okay.”

They smiled at each other. Armin reached forward to brush a bit of her hair out of his eyes. Mikasa couldn’t help but lean into his touch. Armin had cupped her face and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. Mikasa blushed as he pulled away and saw Annie’s minivan drive up.

“Have a good night.”  He rolled up his window and drove away. Mikasa felt herself blush.

“Ackerman, did I just see what I just saw?” Annie called from her car.

“Depends on what you saw, Leonhardt- Fubar- Braun.” Annie laughed as she opened her car door. “The three last names don’t exactly roll off the tongue.” Mikasa said as she grabbed Annie’s bag.

“I kept my maiden name legally, just facebook has the three last names. However you’re avoiding my question. Did I see what I thought I saw?”

“Nope.”

Annie shot her usual glare. Annie could tell Mikasa wasn’t gonna say anything. She walked towards the door without another word. Mikasa was grateful for her silence. They entered the house and saw Sasha and Historia covering the living room with blankets and pillows. They had already put out a bowl of popcorn and various candies on the coffee table.

“You two work fast.”

“We haven’t had a sleepover in years! and I’m never in town.” Sasha says as she hugs Annie.

“Ymir is gonna be here soon and said to go ahead and start the movie. Mikasa, I have a T-shirt and sweatpants for you in the bathroom. Annie, you drinking tonight or no?”

Mikasa didn’t hear Annie’s answer. She went to the bathroom to change. She recognized the shirt instantly and groaned. Of Course Historia would lend this shirt to her. She rolled her eyes before tugging the shirt on and going back to the living room.

“Really, Story? Really?”

“C’mon! That shirt is perfect for you...and Annie...It’s Ymir’s shirt.”

“Ugh..’This is my resting bitch face shirt’... Creative..” Annie slowly sipped her drink.

Mikasa sat herself down next to Annie on the floor while Historia and Sasha took the couch. Within a few minutes into the movie, Ymir came through the door with 3 boxes of pizza, she sat them down on the coffee table before kissing Historia. Half way through the movie, Mikasa felt her phone buzz, she heard Sasha laughing. Historia paused the movie while laughing.

Mikasa looked at her phone, new text from Connie.

Connie: Guys night out  

The image he sent had Mikasa giggle quietly. Connie took a selfie while Reiner and Bertholdt had face masks on with Armin drinking a bright pink drink wearing neon green sunglasses.

“Seems like the boys are having fun” Annie said as she passed her phone around.

Reiner had sent her a picture of Dennis getting a pedicure by Armin and manicure with Connie.

“Ya should’ve brought Mia!” Sasha gushes as she saw the picture.

“She’s at a sleepover.”

“All the husbands hanging out- soon I’ll be in that group.” Ymir said before pulling Historia into her lap to kiss her.

“..Armin not a husband.” Mikasa said as she poured herself some rum.

“Not yet anyways..” Annie arched her eyebrows as she sipped her drink.

“Annie.”

“Wait, what?!” Sasha lept off the couch to face Mikasa. “ Are you two finally dating?”

Mikasa choked on her drink. “What, no. We’re friends-”

“Well, I don’t kiss friends on other friend’s hammock….” Ymir smirked as Mikasa blushed.

“Whoa! I thought you were puking, the next morning there was-”

“Nah, Story, that was Jean’s puke.” Ymir got up to grab a slice of pizza. “Mikasa was putting the moves on Armin.”

“I was not putting moves on Armin. We’re not like that-”

“What?” Sasha grabbed Mikasa’s shoulders. “Dude! You two are so good together! Like you understand each other-”

“We’re just friends, and roommates..I did kiss him but I have no idea how I feel.” Mikasa felt the rum help her open up her emotions. “I’ve never thought of him that way and now I just don’t know. Armin only thought about as a friend, like I’ve always thought of him, he did grow up with me and Eren so I never thought about it. It’s weird…”

She let her work hang in the air as she drank. Sasha refilled her cup while the other three girls looked at her. After a moment, Annie spoke.

“Mikasa, He’s liked you for awhile, at least for the past year or so-”

“Kasa, honey, its kinda obvious.” Historia cut in.

A moment passed before Sasha asked “What was the kiss like?”

Mikasa felt her cheek heat up before answering. “Nice. His lips were soft and...I liked the way he held me…” She gulped the last of drink.

“Have ya’ll talked about the kiss?”

“No, Story, but..tomorrow I think we are. He brought it.”

“Well, damn Mikasa.” Ymir whistled. “You gotta a lot to think about.”

Ymir unpaused the movie, the others let the topic go and watched the rest of movie without bringing up Armin again. Mikasa let out a deep breath at the end of the movie. As much as she trusted them, Mikasa wasn’t ready to talk to them about Armin. Hell, she wasn’t sure she was ready to talk to Armin tomorrow. Just a month ago, she was trying to think out her feelings for Armin, friend or something more. She thought it was platonic, but now with that kiss, it crossed that line. Her thoughts were cut off by Historia suggesting a game of cards against humanity.

Morning


Mikasa woke up with a headache. She was laying down on the couch with Annie on the other end. Ymir and Historia were cuddling on the floor and Sasha curled up in the recliner next to them. She nudged Annie awake after looking at the time on her phone. 10am, Annie needed to pick up Mia from her sleepover, Annie thanked her and was rushing out the door. The other woke up and together they made pancakes.  

During breakfast Sasha was telling them about fostering and how she and Connie couldn’t wait.  Mikasa grinned as Sasha’s face lit up. Her friend was already ready to be a mother, something that would have laughable a few years ago.  

After 11:30, Armin picked her up. Mikasa hugged Sasha goodbye. On the car ride home, Armin let her pick out the station. After a few minutes, the song played.


‘Hey Brother, there’s an endless road to rediscover..’


“I swear this song is haunting us.” Armin says as they turn into their street.

“No shit.” She chuckled as she switched stations. 

They entered the house quietly. Mikasa sat on the sofa as Armin locked the front door. Armin sat next to her and waited. They sat for a few moments before Armin spoke. 

“So...Why did you kiss me? Not that I’m complaining but.. I’m curious.”

She looked at him, straight in the eyes and let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. “Well, honestly, I don’t know. I still don’t know how I feel about the kiss.”

Armin looked down. “It doesn’t have to be a big deal, we kissed, but that doesn’t mean we should be awkward with each other.” He looked back at her. “I honestly liked kissing you. One of the best kisses I’ve had”

“Wow.” Her cheeks flushed. “Nice to know. “

“Nothing has to happened. I hope you don’t feel uncomfortable around me. That would be awful.”

“No...I.. I don’t. It good to know that we’re good.”

Armin smiled and pulled out his phone. “Wanna see more pictures of Guy’s night?”

“Oh yeah.”

January 1, 2015. 3:33 am.

“Get in loser!” Armin burst into giggles as Mikasa opened the door. “We .. we’re going shopping!”

Mikasa laughed as Armin slumped against the doorframe still giggling. Armin was a casual drinker but when he got drunk, there’s giggles, movie references and-

“Mika-sa..” He paused. “Did you know the Romans used urine as mouthwash?”

Interesting history facts.  Mikasa let out a groan.

They had just came from the Akin’s theatre New Year's Eve party with Ymir and Historia. Mikasa didn’t drink since she was around her bosses and co workers, she decided to be the designated driver for them.  The party was fun, her boss Levi had drank enough to be fun, he and Hanji told shit jokes while the ball dropped. Armin had given her a quick peck on the lips as the clock strike twelve, much to the amusement of Ymir and Historia. It was after that kiss that Armin started drinking.

“They would also used urine in the earliest kind of cleaning products” He hiccups. “The ammonia in the urine would be preferred to remove stains-”

“Armin, it's late and you’re blocking the entrance to the house, I don’t want to hear how the Romans used pee.”

Mikasa stepped over Armin into the house. He reached towards her hand. “Kasa..” He let her nickname drift off. His voice took a serious tone.

“Yes?” She kneel down to look at him.

“It’s our first New Years...without Eren.”

Mikasa felt the kick in her gut. She hadn’t realized that it truly was the first New Years without him. With a heavy heart she only whispered. “I know.” She sat against the door, across from Armin.

“I drank a Jagermeister in his memory at the party...I puked next to the trash.”

With a chuckle she said “That was you? I thought it was Ymir or Jack from Box Office.”

“Nope that was all me.”

“No wonder you wanted to leave in a rush.” She smiled at him. 

They sat in the doorway of their house for a few moments in peaceful silence. One of their neighbors still had a party going on and they could hear the music clearly. Somewhere in the music, their hands had found each other and held on. Mikasa felt herself blush as Armin traced a path where her veins met on her hand.

“Meow”

The shrill sound echoed and repeated. Armin had let go of Mikasa’s hand and they both stood up.

“Meow”

They both turned to the right of them by the bushes. A moment later, a small dark cat came out, it headed straight into the house between Armin’s legs. They both scrambled into the house. Mikasa look through out her room, the bathroom and the living room. Armin checks his bedroom area, the kitchen and the laundry room/ garage for the cat. After a hour or so the two decided to call it quits and figure the cat left when the door was still open.

They both fell asleep on the couch, too tired to changed out of their party clothes, they shared a last “Happy New years” greeting to each other.

Mikasa woke up first, she rubbed her eyes and turned to look at Armin. Curled at the crook of Armin’s neck was the elusive cat, purring and looking perfectly content. Mikasa smiled and slowly pulled her phone out, she managed to get three good pictures before Armin woke up.

“I think I need to shave..My neck feels itchy.”

Armin glanced down and smiled at the cat.

“Well...Hello..”

Mikasa got one last picture of the sleeping cat with a smiling Armin before the cat nudged itself off Armin and into Mikasa’s lap purring.

“Affectionate one, isn’t it?” Mikasa stroked it’s little head.

“They don’t have a collar and seem to be very friendly...When offices start to open, I’ll take them to the vet to get scanned. Too friendly to be a stray.”

They spent the rest of the afternoon going door to door asking if the cat was theirs or if they knew who it belonged to. After a few hours of asking around they went home. The cat greeted them at the door with meowing until Armin picked them up and cradled them. Mikasa rested her head on his shoulder and traced the fur patterns on the little cat’s head.

“If they don’t belong to anyone, we should keep them.” Armin smiled down at the cat.

Mikasa wrapped her arms around Armin and looked at him. “Definitely.”

A few days later..


Armin was reading on the couch when he heard Mikasa’s keys jangle. She opened the door and sat down the cat. The little cat ran straight to Armin’s lap and began purring.

“How was the Vet?”

“Pretty good, the Vet scanned them- no ID chip, She is a She, also spayed so she must’ve been someone’s cat.” She sat next to Armin. “I made flyers but I’ll put them up tomorrow, and the Vet said that she’ll call us if someone asks her about the cat. “

“I kinda hope no one claims her, I’ve become attached to Olive...She’s so cute!” He lifted the cat to his chest to hug her. She purred louder. 

Mikasa petted her paw. “I hope no one claims her either.” She placed a little kiss on the cat’s paw. “Olive...I like it. Olive for her olive green eyes, right?”

“Nope..She tried to eat my olives off my salad yesterday.”

Mikasa chuckled. “Either way..She’s perfect.”

The two of them sat on the couch, watched TV, Olive spent her time squeezed in between Armin and Mikasa. The three of them were content.

Chapter Text

February 10th, 2015

Armin was in the kitchen making pancakes.  He mixed in the chocolate chips into the batter. Mikasa’s favorite pancakes were chocolate and blueberry pancakes. Today was Mikasa 24th birthday.  Every year since their junior year in high school, Armin and Eren would wake up before Mikasa and cook her breakfast before her classes or jobs. Armin was determined to keep the tradition this year. Today was a half day at the school, Mikasa had the day off, and later today they were babysitting Dennis and Mia.

“Today has promise for good memories.” He recited to Olive, who perched herself on the corner of the counter. His grandfather always said that.

The pancakes were done, Armin topped them off with blueberries. He set the coffeemaker to brew her favorite coffee before heading towards her room to wake her up. Olive had jumped off the counter and ran to Mikasa’s room in front of Armin.  Olive expertly opened Mikasa’s room by shaking the door open with her little paw.

“Mikasa?” Armin asked before opening her door completely.

He saw Olive kneading a large lump in the middle of the mattress. He grinned as he sat at the edge of her bed. Olive had wedge herself in between the covers to lick Mikasa’s face.  Armin could see her discomfort at Olive’s rough tongue.


“Olive Ackerman- Arlert, what have I said about licking me awake?”  Her sleepy voice whispered.

Olive replied with a coy “Meow”

“She does the same thing to me.” Armin said as he patted her head. 

“G’ morning.” She answered as she pull herself up in a sitting position.

Armin gave her a smile as she adjusted her shirt and cradled Olive. He loved looking at her, when her hair was messy and now, cradling their cat.

“She’s like a baby...a baby who lets their head hang at awkward angles.” She said as she adjusted herself to face him. Olive loved being cradled and would let her head hang off Mikasa’s arms.

“Our little fur baby.” Armin whispered as played with Olive’s tail.  “Happy birthday Mikasa. Your birthday pancakes are on the table. “ 

“Thanks.”

He saw her smile before she sat Olive down. She stood up and walked towards the bathroom. Armin walked back to the kitchen to fix her coffee as she liked it. As he placed her cup down, she walked into the kitchen, wearing his Adventure Time shirt of Marceline and jeans.

“Doesn’t that shirt look familiar?” He teased as he sat down.

“Eh...As Sasha would say ‘She is Bae’ “ She took a bite out of her pancakes.

“Yup.”

They ate in silence until Armin’s alarm rang for him to leave for work.

“What time are the twins coming over again?” Armin asked as they walked to the door together.

“Around 1. What time are coming home?” She handed him his backpack.

“Hopefully before 2. We have another meeting about the STAARS test. I’m not even prompting the damn test but I still have to go to these meetings.” He grabbed his keys.

“Regardless of that, have a good day.”

“You too, birthday girl.” Armin kissed her on her cheek before walking to his car.

Mikasa felt herself grin as she closed the door. Olive circled around her legs, waiting to be picked up. Mikasa nestled herself in her bed and pulled her laptop close to her. Olive curled up near her headboard. On her tumblr, she wrote.

First birthday without E. I’m sad. I truly wished I had him by my side today. I’m not distraught as much as I’m still sad. A quiet sad if you will.

Brief on her words as always.  Little was written but she felt instant relief when her post published. She pulled Olive towards her so the little dark cat could curl at her stomach. She fell into a light sleep as she felt the vibrations of Olive’s purrs.

A few hours her phone rang, waking her up immediately.

“h-Hello?”

“Hey Ackerman, did you forget you’re watching my kids?’

“Y’all are coming at 1 right?”

“Yeah, it’s 1 and we’ve been outside your house for five minutes ringing your doorbell.”

“Shit...Coming.”

Mikasa rushed to the door to greet Annie and the twins.

“Happy birthday Auntie Kasa!” Mia and Dennis tried to tackle Mikasa as they ran towards her.

“Good afternoon, sleepy head.”

“I was only asleep for a few hours, Annie, I’m not making you late for your appointment right?”

“No.” Annie checked her phone as Mia tugged on Mikasa’s shirt.

“I wanna meet the baby!”

“Baby?” Mikasa asked as Annie hugged Dennis.

“Mr. Aler- I mean Armin said you two got a baby!” Mia eyes lit up.

“Wow, only a month later after a kiss and already a baby..” Annie smirked.

“No, Olive’s a-”

“KITTY!” Dennis dashed off into Mikasa’s living room with Mia trailing after him.

“Geez, they’re energetic today.” Mikasa walked Annie to her car.

“I just feed them, like Reiner, they get hyped up after eating.” She climbed into her car and turned the car on. “Thanks for babysitting on short notice, and on your birthday...I really appreciate it.”

“No problem. A week’s notice isn’t exactly short notice.”

Annie waved goodbye as she backed out of the driveway. Mikasa took a deep breath before entering the house. From the doorway she could see Dennis and Mia laying down in front of the sofa, reaching under the sofa. As she walked closer she heard Mia call for “Sweet baby kitty”.

“If you ignore Olive, she’ll come out and greet you.”

“Aww man. I just wanted to meet her! Uncle Armin shows pictures of her and you all the time!” Mia stood and slumped over on the sofa.

“I-I didn’t know that.” Mikasa said, as she sat down next to Mia.

“He does, and he always smiles when he shows the pictures.” Mia sat herself upright. “Can we watch Steven Universe?”

“I’ve never seen Steven Universe.”

Dennis had a shock look on his face and stood up. “You simply must watch it.”

Mikasa looked at him in surprise, she’s never heard a six year use the phrase “Simply must”.

“Mia, is that what you want to watch?”

Mia nodded and Mikasa went to go get her laptop. After a few minutes of searching for the show online, she found a website with all the episodes.

“You have to start at the beginning!” Dennis said as he sat next to Mikasa.

Mikasa clicked episode one, not knowing what to expect, but it was from Cartoon Network so there was no question of whether they were allowed to watch it or not.  Mia and Dennis were singing along to the theme song. The first episode was okay, pretty silly and liked that Rebecca Sugar was the creator. She clicked on the button for the next episode.

Two hours later, Mikasa found herself singing with Dennis and Mia when the theme song started, she was pleasantly surprised by how much she liked the show so far. It was charming. Armin had come home earlier and joined them, he had already watched every episode “All of my students come to class every Friday talking about Steven Universe, I got curious…” as explanation. They continued watching until Armin’s phone rang.

“Gotta take this, you don’t have to pause.” He walked out of the room.

As she watched Garnet shake a rapidly aging Steven, Armin came back into the room and waited until the episode was over.

“Annie needs us to bring the twins over.”

“Oh Okay.”

The twins each gave Olive a soft pat before they left. Armin drove while Mikasa answered a few messages she ignored while watching the kids. She had Facebook birthday messages as well as text messages, she even got a birthday email from her boss, telling her she could take tomorrow off as well.  A short ten minute ride later, Armin pulled up to Annie’s house.  At the door, Armin rang the doorbell three times.

“Thank Kasa for watching Steven Universe with us.”

Mikasa smiled “It was fun.”

“I hope you can watch us again.”

“I hope so too, Mia.”

Bertholdt answered the door rather nervously. “Co-come in.”

Armin entered first and then the twins ran ahead of Mikasa. Mikasa stepped into the darkened room before the lights flashed on and a kazoo rang out.

“SURPRISE!”
“Happy Birthday Mikasa!”

Mikasa smiled and held her hand to her chest in complete surprise. Sasha and Connie came out from behind the recliner. Ymir and Marco from the kitchen, Jean and Historia from one of the room, and Annie and Reiner from their kitchen. Armin also came out of the kitchen with a birthday cake and candles. Mia and Dennis started singing the birthday song.

As her friends gathered around her, she felt her heart swell with happiness, so much she hasn’t felt in so long. She let out a laugh as she blew out the candles as she thought of her wish. Sasha came first to hug her while Armin and Annie went to cut up the cake. Connie following close behind her.

“Happy birthday Sweetie!”

“Thanks”

“So did you have any idea about this surprise party?”

“Absolutely no idea.”

“Armin called us a week ago and asked if we could come up here for ya, we didn’t even know it was a surprise until Annie told us two days ago to keep quiet” Connie said as he gave Mikasa a light hug.

“Armin and Annie planned this?”

“Mikasa, I got you a little something.” Jean walked over to Mikasa.

“Just a little something we picked up in Padre Island last weekend.” Marco said as he gave her a peck on the cheek as greeting. Jean handed her a red gift wrapped box.

“Thank you, you didn’t hav-”

“C’mon Kasa! Its your birthday! Open it!” Sasha says as she got out her phone, camera ready.

“Open it! Open it! Open it!” Mia chanted as Mikasa torn off the wrapping paper.

She opened the box, read what was inscripted and immediately hugged both Jean and Marco. In the box, was a sliver necklace, on the charm had Eren’s initials and the wings of freedom they all liked.

“I’m glad you like it, I was kinda worried you wouldn’t like it.” Jean rubbed the back of his neck as Marco fasten the necklace on her.

“I love it. Thank you.” She smiled at him.

Mikasa talked to Jean and Marco for a while. She asked about Marco’s grad school, “Great, if great means stressing out over assignments and having little free time.”, and Jean about working at the new museum. She liked how Jean got really animated about his job.  Ymir and Historia joined them. Conversation turned to wedding talk, Mikasa sat by politely as the two couples talked about the two upcoming weddings.

“Hey, Mikasa, My family has your present in the kitchen.”  Reiner interrupted them.

Mikasa made him a small grin and followed him into the kitchen. Annie,  Bertholdt and the twins were waiting for them. Mia handed her a card and Dennis handed her a gift bag.

“Open it!” Mia said as Mikasa opened the card.

“Happy Birthday Aunt Kasa, You still have not fought with Mom, Have a good birthday, love Dennis and Mia.”

“They told me what to write in the card!” Reiner said as Annie smacked his arm.

Mikasa laughed as she finished reading her card aloud, and at the look of Bertholdt’s face.

“Soon, you’ll see us spar, and maybe you’ll pick up martial arts as a hobby.”

Mikasa looked into the bag and smiled. She pulled out a leather jacket.

“I noticed you liked it, when we went shopping a few weeks ago, I left the receipt in, in case it doesn’t fit you right.”

“I love it, especially with this weird cold weather sticking around.”

“Great! There’s also a gift card at the bottom of the bag from Me and Bert.” Reiner said as he motioned for the kids to leave the room.

“Thank you, all of you.” She smiled and as she turned around, Bert tapped her shoulder.

“Ugh..We also have news to tell you too.” Bert stepped back to his wife and boyfriend.

“I actually did have a doctor’s appointment today, so thanks for watching the kids”  Annie said nonchalantly. “I’m pregnant again. Not twins or any multiples, just a single baby this time around.”  

“So far, you’re the only one outside of family to know, wanted ya to know.” Reiner said proudly.

“Oh my- Congrats guys!” Mikasa gave Annie a short hug and patted both Reiner and Bertholdt’s shoulders.

“We’re very surprised but excited.” Bertholdt’s face lit up with a smile.

The four of them talked for a bit until Ymir and Historia came in to say they were leaving. Ymir slipped Mikasa a large card. They waited with grins while Mikasa opened her present. Inside her birthday card was two tickets to see Beauty and the beast. She gives them both hugs and walks them out with Connie and Sasha.

“Your present should be coming in the mail by next week, trust me, you’ll love it!”  Sasha says with a final hug before getting in the car. Mikasa waves to them as they leave.

By nine o’clock, everyone has left and Armin is helping Annie clean up while Reiner and Bertholdt get the kids to bed.  Mikasa finished getting the trash together. Annie walks them out to the car.

“Thank you, for letting the party be at your house.”

“Not a problem, Army.”

“Thank you again for the jacket.”

“Have a good night.”

Mikasa spent the car ride looking at Armin. She smiled as the pasting lights cast shadows around his face. He had gotten a haircut, she noticed, his bangs and layers redone. He briefly glanced at her before she pointed to the road. She felt so incredibly happy.

“Thank you, Armin, for the party. I really loved it.”

He grinned but didn’t say anything.

At home, Armin had smiled at her and left to go to his room. With a content sigh she went to her bedroom. Olive meowed as Mikasa changed out of her clothes and into her usual sleeping tee shirt. Armin knocked at her door.

“Come in.” She bend down to scoop Olive off the floor. “Need anything?” She asked with Olive purring against her neck.

“I-I uh, have a birthday present for you.” He said as he blushed.

Mikasa set Olive on the bed, she sat down and motioned for Armin to sit down. He handed her a lumpy present. She tore off the paper and gasped. She traced the lettering on the corner before standing up and holding up present.  She instantly recognized some of the pattern.  Armin had given her a quilt of Eren’s old shirts. She held the quilt closely to herself before bending down to hug Armin tightly.

“I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it.”

They held each other for a few moments until Olive pawed at Armin, demanding attention. Mikasa sat down as Armin cradled Olive. She rested her head on Armin’s shoulder, and watched the little cat fall asleep in his arms. She pressed a kiss to his forehead.

“Thank you again for the party, and thank you for making today so great.”

Armin smiled and with his free hand lightly held her hand.

“I’m glad you had a good day.”

They smiled at each other for a moment longer before Armin stood up to leave for his room. Mikasa spread out the quilt before getting in bed. After the lights were off and she was comfortable in the bed, she thought about the day’s event and smiled.

Chapter Text

“ChUG CHUG CHUG IT!” a group surrounded Jean and Thomas as they chugged beer at Reiner’s party. His parents left town for the weekend and told him as long as he cleaned up the mess, he could have friends over.

Armin and Mikasa stood a bit away from the crowd, both drinking cans of soda, watching the two boys get shit faced. Mikasa rolled her eyes at her boyfriend as he won the drinking contest. ‘Shit. That’s cute.” Armin sipped his soda as Jean came towards them.


“B-baby, Me won!”

“I saw” Mikasa said as Jean circled his arms around her shoulders.

“Let’s  get out here..do sex lee stuff.”

Armin blushed as Jean started kissing Mikasa’s neck. Mikasa rolled her eyes again.

“Nope, Jeanbo, I’m gonna walk you home and tell your mother how you are now the champion of Reiner’s drinking game.”

“Proud she will be?”

Mikasa shook her head. “Armin, I’m off, keep an eye on Eren for me?”

“Of course, Kasa.”

With Jean clinging on her, Mikasa wasn’t able to give Armin a hug, so she lightly patted his cheek with her hand before heading out the door with Jean. Armin felt himself blush and took the last slip of his drink. Walking into the kitchen he saw Eren staring at him intently.

“Armin can I talk to you outside?” without waiting for Armin’s answer, Eren walked out the kitchen door. Armin followed him to the back porch seating and waited for Eren to speak. Taking a slip from his favorite drink, Eren finally spoke.

“Armin, you know you’re my best friend, like almost my brother right?”

Armin gave him a look “..You okay, dude? You usually get hyper when you’re drinking not sentimental....”

“Just..” He sipped his drink “thinking…”

Armin stared at Eren, usually around this time, he’s yelling about joining the military or making out with Annie. Instead today, he’s relaxed. Eren holds up his bottle to offer some to Armin. “Nope.” Eren shrugs and gulps the last of the liquor in the bottle. With neither of them talking they could hear Reiner stereo blast.

“Gotta get that. Gotta get that. Gotta get that that that..”

Eren got his mischievous grin as he slowly shimmied towards Armin.

“Eren…”Armin slowly backed

“Gotta get that boom boom” Eren danced towards Armin. Armin took a deep breath and sighed in defeat.

“Them chickens jackin my style, they try to copy my swagger. I’m on that next shit now.” He copied Fergie’s moves  “I’m so 3008- you’re so 2000 and late. I got that boom boom boom. That future boom boom boom”

“YES!” Eren laughs as Armin signals that he’s done dancing.

After the song, they agree to go to Armin’s house, sneaking in through Armin’s window. Armin laughing quietly as Eren stumbled through. “SHH! you can’t wake up my grandpa- He’s already covered for you twice since January!” Armin managed to get Eren into some basketball shorts without waking up his grandpa. Soon both boys were in bed sleep.

“Armin?”

“What?”

“You have a crush on Mikasa, don’t you?”

Armin eyes popped open as he jerked up.

“NO! I DON-”

“SHH, you’ll wake up your grandpa.” Eren smirked as he lifted himself into a sitting across from Armin.

“I don’t like her” Armin voice pitched.

Eren chuckled as he punched Armin on his arm. “Dude it’s okay. I didn’t notice how much you liked her til tonight when your face dropped when she left with Jean.”

Armin looked down, his bangs hiding his face.

“When did you start noticing?…” He let his words trail off.

“Last summer at the beach. After your grandpa left the beach for the night, before the fireworks...you and Kasa were dancing. You looked so happy and Kasa was smiling.”

Armin smiled at the memory. Mikasa was twirling with him and giving him her rare smiles under the fireworks.

“You’re blushing like mad, bro.”

Armin blushed even harder as he faced Eren. “I can’t really hide from you, can I?...She’s kinda been my dream girl since freshman year.”

“Wait-She-was girl you liked?”

“Yeah.” Armin laughed as Eren screamed into his pillow.

“I thought you liked Annie!”

“Do you really think I would tell you if I had a crush on your girlfriend?”

The two boys laughed.

“Marry her.”

“Who? Annie?”

“No, lil blond sass, Mikasa.”

“Ugh...You still drunk?”

“No, marry Mikasa. Dude, her relationship with Jean isn’t gonna last-trust me, He may be bisexual but he loves dick way-

“Eren PLEASE!”

“But like, marry her when we’re old, like twenty three or something”

“..Twenty three is not old Eren”

“Marry her, dude...I wouldn’t want anything less for my sister and you’re the best.”

“Dude.”

“Than you would really be my brother.”

Armin woke up on the sofa, Mikasa asleep against his side, and Olive laying on the floor in front of Tv. Heart beating rapidly,he rubbed his eyes and gently pried himself away from her. He looked at the oven clock with a brightly displayed 5:45am. ‘Might as well stay up and work on something.’ He mumbled to himself as he started to make himself tea.  He sat down at the table with his mug, he noticed his hand shaking.

“I thought I was getting better...At least I’m not panicking like the last time.” He sipped his tea and looked over his notes on his students. His students were all moving along great, luckily his students had picked up basic reading and surprisingly on level with math. At this point in time, all of his students were ready for first grade. It was a relief to say the least. After ten minutes he realized he was caught up on work.

His mind wondered and thought of the flashback before he woke up. Eren was the first person he had ever told about his feelings for Mikasa, and the only person so far in his life. “Geez, Eren, I really really wished you were here. To talk or goof off with.” He felt the awful tightness in his chest from missing him. He took a few deep breaths until the tightness was gone. “Man, you would have given me so much crap man...You would’ve smack me when I asked her to live with me- Hell, kissing her and not telling her how I felt.” Armin laughed as he thought to himself. “I’m an idiot.” He drank the last of his tea.

“Eren, before this year is over, I promise I’ll tell her. I’ll tell I love her.” He said to himself. He sat quietly at his table until he heard Mikasa start to wake up. He walked into the living to find a half awake Mikasa trying to shoo Olive away from licking her face. She stood up and picked up Olive, giving her a kiss to the cheek before walking towards Armin. 

“What time is it?” She asked as she rubbed her eyes.

“About 7 ish, so you have some time before work.”

“How long have you been awake?”

“Awhile.”

“You should really be getting some sleep, dear.” Mikasa walked into the kitchen and pulled out cereal and milk,

Red tinted Armin’s face “Yeah..Yeah I know.”

“Woah.” Is all she said.

“Season two starts tomorrow actually” Armin said as he exited out of the website with Steven Universe episodes.

“It was a really good finale. I wonder how Dennis and Mia reacted.”

“According to Reiner’s Twitter feed, they suspected about Garnet, and Bert and Reiner were the ones freaking out.”

She chuckled as she got up off the sofa to throw away a empty chip bag.

“Do you wanna rewatch the steven bomb episodes?”

“Sure” Mikasa called out to him from the kitchen, “Want popcorn?”

“Yeah.”

Armin had the video ready to go when she came back with popcorn. She sat down and pulled Olive into her lap, she smiled when Armin began humming the Steven Universe theme song. Ever since she had the twins over, every Thursday she and Armin would watch the new episode, than scroll through the tumblr tag.  After the episode with Lapis’ message, she leaned against Armin.

“One thing I will always like about this show is that the gems really are the perfect personification of the actual gemstones.”

Armin said as he adjusted in his seat to drape one arm over Mikasa’s shoulders. She also moved to a more comfortable position with her head closer to his chest. She felt herself blush at the intimacy of their position. She felt tingling in the pit of her stomach but ignore it and watched the show.

“Have..Have we always been this close?” She asked herself. “I know we’re close but like this? It feels..lovely.” During the episode, she felt Armin playing with the ends of her hair.

“Your hair gotten long, it suits you.”

She felt herself blush again and without looking at him she said “I haven’t even thought of getting a trim or anything the past few months. It’s been a long time since I’ve had long hair.”

She lets Armin keep playing with her hair while she rests her hand on his stomach. At the end of the last episode she looks up to see Armin asleep. She manages to sit up without waking him up. She smiles at the peaceful look he has when he’s asleep. She noted how soft his lips looked and remembered their kiss.

She had only kissed two people before Armin, the first one was Annie after Mikasa broke her nose and Jean during that brief thing of a relationship. Armin was her first kiss that actually meant something, her first kiss where she wanted to keep going, her first kiss that was truly blissful.  

A sudden thought came to her “I want to kiss him again.” She stood up from the couch and grabbed a near by blanket to cover him. She kissed the top of his head and closed his laptop. In the quiet of her room she thought about kissing him again. “I loved kissing him...and God he makes me feel tingly and love…” She plopped on her bed facing the ceiling. She let out an audible “Oh.”

She felt her heart beat a little faster. “I..I love him. I think I’ve fallen for Armin. “ She laughed as she realized it. “I should’ve know months ago, when I went to Sasha and Connie before Thanksgiving, holding his hand during movies, even cuddling on the couch to watch TV… I do now.” She felt relief when she accepted her feelings.

She changed into her sleeping T-shirt and heard scratching at the door. A second later she saw a tiny paw under the door, Mikasa got up and let Olive in, the tiny cat jumped into the bed. “Its a good thing you’re cute.” She whispered as she turned off her light.  

The next few days weren’t awkward as Mikasa thought they might be. She didn’t tell Armin anything about her newly discovered feelings for him. She was comfortable with how they acted around each other. It was comfortable and familiar, she decide that for now it was what she needed, and when the time came for when she was ready for a possibility at anything more than friends, then she’ll say sometime. Now she was okay with how things are. 

Chapter Text

“GO FOR HER LEFT LEG,KASA!”

“Dennis! Cheer for Mama!”

Annie dodges Mikasa left hook and jumps back as Mikasa travels forward. Annie has her fist up and prepares for next move. Bouncing on her toes, Mikasa steps to her right and ducks under Annie’s arm as she swings it, barely missing Mikasa’s head.


“Go Baby!” Reiner cheers as Annie blocks another shot.

“Is it safe for Annie to be fighting?” Bertholdt asked as Annie landed a hit on Mikasa’s side.

“Don’t worry Berty, Mikasa said they were going easy and no core hits” He kissed his nervous boyfriend’s forehead before turning his attention to the grill.

Armin, Dennis and Mia watched the rest of their fight. Annie ended the fight by pinning Mikasa.

“WOW! Mama I didn’t know how cool you were till just now!”

Annie smirked as she picked up Mia. “A few years ago, I could’ve really fought Mikasa and won. She let me win easy.”

“You’re pregnant and you wanted to fight, of course I was going to be easy on you.”


“That was easy?” Dennis eyes widen.

Armin chuckled. “Dude, your mom and Kasa were the best fighters in high school, watching them fight was amazing. You never knew who would win.”

“Burgers and hot dogs are done.” Reiner called out as Bertholdt put paper plates on the picnic table.

Annie led the kids inside her house to wash her hands with Mikasa following behind them.


“Have you told the kids about them becoming older siblings?” Armin asked as he filled cups with soda.

“We told them last week, they seem excited by it, but five minutes later Mia asked where do babies come from.” Bertholdt answered, looking very uncomfortable about the memory.

“Me and Annie told them that everyone has cells, and said something like ‘when people are ready, their cells come together and start forming a baby in the mother’s womb” so far, no questions.” 

“That’s actually a really good way to explain it to them, Reiner.”

“We figured it wasn’t too far off the mark and they just turned six years old last week.”

Armin saw Mikasa walking towards them.

“Armin, I left the birthday presents in the car, can you unlock it?’

“Sure, Hon.” Armin clicked the unlock button on his keys, hearing the car beeped, Mikasa walked away.

Reiner and Bertholdt looked at each other before looking at Armin.

“Dude..” Reiner chuckled as Annie and the kids came to sit down at the table.

As soon as Mikasa came back from the car, they ate. Armin and Mikasa had been invited over for a late birthday lunch for Dennis and Mia, the twins had requested a fight between Mikasa and Annie. Mikasa was hesitant at first but Annie said they would go easy. Armin was excited to see the fight. It’s been years since he seen her fight. 

“Kasa, was Eren a fighter too?” Mia asked as she took a bite out of her hotdog.

Armin saw Mikasa take a deep breath before she answered.

“Yes. He was actually the one who joined the martial arts club. I joined because I wanted to be with him, funny enough I became a better fighter than he did.”

“Did you fight too?” Mia asked looking at Armin.

“Not well.” He answered and added “I just followed after Eren and Mikasa.”

“The three of you were close..like Mama and Dads are?”

“No, not that close, Mia.” Mikasa asked for Armin.

“Kasa, can you fight Daddy?”

Reiner choked on his drink “OOh no son. I’ve been flipped too many times by your mom and Mikasa to count.” Mia and Dennis gave him the saddest frowns.

“I’ll go easy on you.” Mikasa said as she threw away her plate.

“Please!” the twins pleaded together.

“Alright alright. Whenever you’re ready Mikasa.” He took a gulp of his soda

Reiner and Mikasa walked to the center of the backyard, around the area Annie and Mikasa had fought.

“3 hits is the winner?”

“Perfect” Mikasa answered as she fell into her stance.

The twins both sat in the grass to watch their dad fight. Armin stayed seated in her chair and watched. Mikasa bounced on her toes and waited for Reiner to strike first. He could see the way her muscles tensed as she landed a punch on Reiner’s side.  His heart beat loudly as Mikasa caught Reiner’s arm and tripped him, pinning him down for 4 counts. She looked breathtakingly stunning when she fought.  Reiner stood up and aimed his fist towards Mikasa’s left, she dodged the hit and spun to his right and hit his shoulder. Armin could see the tiny hint of her smile as she twisted his arm and tackled him to the ground again.

“Mikasa wins with 2 hits!” Bertholdts calls out as Dennis and Mia cheer and run to them.

“Been awhile since you saw her fight.” Armin hears as Annie stands next to him.

Armin watches as Mikasa hugs Mia and spins her around. “Yeah, the last time was our college sophomore year against you, her roundhouse kick was amazing. That’s when I fell for her. That spar was pretty impressive for both you and Mikasa. Shame you two couldn’t spare more in college, and now.”

Annie’s face widen in surprise. “Excuse me.” She walked over to Bertholdt and said something in his ear before turning back to Armin and gesturing him to her kitchen. She slides the glass door shut before speaking.

“So the moment you fell for her was the moment she beat me in a fight?” she brushed her bangs out of her face and added “whatever you say, I won’t repeat it.”

Armin blushed and looked down “I’ve alway liked her, I always played with her as a kid with Eren, and I noticed how pretty she was but I didn’t think of her romantically.” he looked up. “When she had you pinned and as the coach was announcing the winner..I felt it….The sweet burning in my chest when I saw her, the awakening of butterflies in the pit of my stomach..Her smile when she beat you. I had only seen that smile once before, but only for a few seconds, but this stayed...I knew I had fallen in love.”

Annie stared at him for a few moments and chuckled. “That’s cute.”

He laughed until she lightly punched his arm.

“Are you planning on saying anything to her?”

“I-I don’t know…We live together, so if I make her uncomfortable by saying anything- I haven’t told anyone expect Eren.”

Annie gave him a look. “It wouldn’t bother her, I can tell.” She grabbed a juice box for herself. “I think it’s stupid it’s taken you so long to admit that you like her, to her or to anyone else. I mean in college, we all a bet of when you would ask her out, or hook up with her.”

“Wait- what? a bet?”

“Eren technically started it, well, him and Ymir.”

“What!?”

“Me, Bert and Sasha thought you would ask her out before graduation. the others thought sometime after, and Ymir thought it was ‘anytime now’.”

“Ymir...Oh..that would explain somethings..”

Annie smirked, “For Mikasa’s birthday present, I had to talk her out of buying a voucher for a romantic candlelight dinner, for you two.”

“Oh.”

“Armin, obviously take your time in revealing your feelings, do it on your terms without pressure. I can tell you love her, and I think she does have inklings of feelings for you.”

“You think I should go for it?”

“Armin.” She glared at him. “Yes. Like I said, take your time, and maybe start flirting with her.”

“..Did that work on you with Reiner?”

“For the most part. Keep in mind, Bert and I were already dating and he was dating Reiner, so we were already close. It wasn’t until he kissed me that all the flirting made sense…” Annie smiled and patted her stomach.

“Thanks for the advice, Annie.”

“No problem,just know you have support, and if in some way in hell, she rejects you. You can come over and I’ll liquor you up, well, Reiner and Bert. “

“Strangely that’s comforting. Thanks Annie.”

“It’ll work out. Trust me.”

Annie opened the door when she saw Bertholdt holding Mikasa’s hand out in front of him. Her knuckles were cut up and had some blood on them.

“What the hell happened while I was in here?” Annie asked as Reiner flew past them with Mia and Dennis running after him.

“I misstepped and hit the tree.” Mikasa answered as she rinsed her hand under the kitchen faucet.

“Got the first aid kit.” Reiner digged through its contents.

“I’m going to check up on the kids.” Bertholdt left the room quietly.  Everyone knew he wasn’t comfortable with blood. Annie followed him into their living room.

“I got antibacterial wipes and bandages.” Reiner said as Mikasa and gently patting her hand.

“I’m alright, Armin can help me if you want to go to them.” Mikasa gestured towards the living room.

“Okay.” He left the room.

Armin wiped her hand quickly with the antibacterial wipes and bandaged her hand.

“This reminds me of the time my cheek was cut and you cleaned it up for me.”

Giving the bandage one last pat he said “The first time you ever got an injury from a fight.” Armin put the remaining back into the kit. He quickly turned around to face Mikasa and leaned over to kiss her cheek, right over her scar.

“I’ll go give this back to Reiner.” He whispered before turning and leaving the kitchen.

“..Huh..” Mikasa sighed as slowly walked to the living room.

April 18th 2015. Oklahoma

“Jesus fucking Christ, why is there so much fucking traffic in this goddamn town?” Ymir groaned as she leaned back on her seat.

“We’re only 2 blocks away from the hotel and I already texted Annie and Sasha that we’re in traffic.” Bertholdt tried to comfort his cousin.


Armin was driving while Connie, Bertholdt and Ymir were in the car. They were currently stuck in bummer to bummer traffic and have been waiting for the light to turn
green for seven minutes. It was 2:23 and they were supposed to be at the hotel by 2:30.  

“Fucking cars.” Ymir adjusted her tie.

“Annie texted me that anyone else is there and to not worry.” 

“Bertholdt, I’m going to end up being late to my own wedding.” Ymir started messing with her hair.

“Don’t touch the hair! I didn’t spend all that time on your hair and make up-”

“Pipe down Springer!” Ymir yelled at Connie before calming down.

“Fucking finally.” Armin muttered as he got the green light. 

Within five minutes, the four of them were parking at the hotel’s parking lot and making their way to the reception rooms. As they turned the corner they saw Sasha in her red bridesmaid dress.

“Finally! The guests are already seated, and peace justice man is here.” She ran towards Ymir, adjusting her white fitted tux and redo her red tie. “There!” and led her into the room.

Sasha popped out and went around the other corner. A few seconds later, Historia came out in her wedding gown with Annie and Mikasa following her. Sasha and Annie were in matching red bridesmaid dress and Mikasa was wearing a purple dress.

“I told Ymir to book a room here, but did she listen? Nooo.” Historia rolled her eyes as the wedding coordinator adjusted the wedding party. Mikasa waved at them before entering the room to sit down with Reiner and the twins.  

The coordinator cued the music and opened the doors. First Annie and Bertholdt led the wedding party, than Sasha and Connie walked down. Armin gave Historia his arm and on the wedding coordinator’s count they walked in.

Historia’s side was filled with relatives she didn’t know that know was obliged to invite them. Armin had never met them, and from the quick side glances, he could tell they weren’t exactly a happy bunch of folk. On Ymir’s side is where their friends were seated, a collection college, work and some high school friends that had driven to Oklahoma for the wedding.

Armin gave Historia a quick hug and patted Ymir on the shoulder, congratulating her, before sitting next to Mikasa. The music faded and the justice of the peace began the ceremony.  Historia and Ymir weren’t religious so the ceremony was sweet and sweet. The couple had written their vows, Armin saw Reiner and Sasha tear up at Ymir’s vows. Ymir was usually very tough and a very clear speaker, but while saying her vows, her voice cracked with affection and stumbled through her spoken promises of always loving Historia and to always stay and face the world together. Armin felt Mikasa’s hand on his, he entwined their hands together.

The newly wed couple shared their first kiss as wives and everyone cheered, including Historia’s family.  Historia dipped Ymir for their second kiss before quickly exiting the room for wedding pictures. In the cocktail room, most of Historia’s family had left, leaving a few of Ymir’s family and all their friends. Since most of their friends were in the wedding party, Mikasa was talking with Mia at one of the bar table. 

“Daddy wouldn’t let us have the ipads for the wedding.”

“Life must suck.” Mikasa took a slip of her soda. 

“Totally.” Mia mimicked Mikasa’s slip. “How is your love life?”

Mikasa’s glass slipped out of her hand.

“E-excuse me?”

“Love life.” Mia stared at Mikasa expectantly. 

“..Eh.” Mikasa quickly looked around the room looking for any sign of Reiner. His daughter was getting a little too personal with her questions.

“I think you should get married next.”

“I feel like thats something my mother would’ve said.” Damn I should probably get a drink.. Mikasa thought as she picked up her glass.

“If you get married then I can be your flower girl!”

“Well honey, that ain’t gonna happen for a very long time-”

“What are you two pretty girls talking about?” Reiner interrupted, taking a slip of his martini.

“Mikasa’s love life.” Mia answered.

“Ooohh, Tell us all about it girlfriend!” Reiner mimed a hair flip and blinked flirtatiously.

“Are you dating Armin yet?” Dennis asked as he lifted himself on the bar stool.

Mikasa spotted the wedding party enter the room “Look, your Mom here, and Dad.”


The twins ran from the bar table to see their parents, with Reiner trailing after them. Mikasa walked to the bar to get another soda. She had decided not to drink anything alcoholic since she would be the one driving home tomorrow. She made small talk with Ymir’s and Bertholdt’s aunt. She always forgot Bertholdt and Ymir were related.  Sasha found her and led her to the the reception room.

“You didn’t think you get away without taking pictures did you?” Sasha said as she noticed Mikasa’s expression as she saw the camera.

The photographer had Mikasa stand next to Armin for the few first pictures and then posed her with the rest of the friends group. She stood with Armin while Ymir and Historia were taking goofy pictures. Soon everyone was in the reception room, eating and greeting the new couple. The table had Armin, Mikasa, Jean and Marco. They spent the hour eating and talking to each other, Marco had finished his first semester of grad school and Jean was recently commissioned with a team of artists for a huge museum project. Mikasa talked about the theatre and pointed out her co workers that were at the tables.

“See that chibi over there? Half the staff think we’re either fucking or related. Its ridiculous.”

“Well, Mikasa, he is a looker.” Marco discreetly checked out Levi.

“Ew honey. He has a resting bitch face.” Jean said after staring at him. 

“Look who’s talking.” Armin sipped his water while Marco and Mikasa laughed.

A few moments later, the Dj led the newly married couple on the dancefloor for their first dance.  Mikasa stood by the speakers with Armin and filmed them. Armin smiled at the song choice, Stand by Me by Ben E King, he thought the song fit well for the couple. He wrapped his arm around Mikasa and a few seconds later she leaned into him. Historia dipped Ymir at the end of the song and gave her a sweet kiss.

“That was cute.” Mikasa commented as she clicked her phone off.

“It was. Especially with the song.” Armin played with a strand of her hair. 

The dancefloor opened but Mikasa and Armin didn’t dance. They stayed at their table and talked to each other and to whoever stopped by the table. Armin rested his arm against the back of her chair and she was leaning against him. Marco shot them a questioning look a few times and Jean kept talking. After the cake was served, Mia had asked Armin to dance, leaving Mikasa with Jean and Marco.

“So..” Jean started.

“So...What?” 

“So you and Armin?” Marco finished for Jean. 

“Me and Armin what?”

“Are you two together?” Jean asked. 

She choked on a bite of cake “No.”

Jean and Marco looked at each other before Marco said “Oh..” and the atmosphere became a little too uneasy for Mikasa. Armin came to the table.

“Hey Kasa, care to dance?”

“Oh Yes.” She hastily tugged Armin on the dance floor.

“Were you eager to dance or something?” He asked as he placed one hand on her waist and the other taking her hand.

“Just wanted to get away. Also I did want to dance some.”

“I’m glad.” Armin pulled her closer to his chest. “You look beautiful tonight..well more beautiful that is..”

“You don’t look too bad yourself.” She smiled up at him.

They danced for another song before the high energy songs started playing. Armin danced a bit with Annie while Mikasa danced with Dennis and Mia. Eventually Armin found himself with Mikasa in his arms. Her cheeks flushed from dancing and her arms around his neck.

A slower but upbeat song play through the speakers, electric piano sounds. Neither Armin or Mikasa recognized it but they both danced to it. Mikasa kept her arms around Armin and Armin pulled her closer to him. He slowly dipped her, watching as her hair swing out, showing Mikasa face completely. He could clearly see her smile and happy expression.

She rolled back up and leaned up against Armin. They looked into each other’s eyes before dancing more freely. He spun her and she twirled showing her strong legs. During the sax solo, their faces were so close, the tips of their noses touching. Hands holding each other at the sides and eyes half opened. Armin looking at her so tenderly under the dim lights. The faint tinglying of his breathing near her lips. 

Mikasa heard a camera’s click sound and instantly felt a pang of discomfort. She was so close to him, lips only inches away. She could have taken that extra inch step closer and kiss him on the dance floor. Instead she adjusted herself to just hold him. Her face tucked in the crook of his neck. She was still nervous about the closeness of him and how intimate they were, but she fought it. She enjoy the faint smell of his cologne, he way he held her and the look on his face.

‘One day I’ll be able to get closer.” she thought as she squeezed him closer to her. 

Chapter Text

May 15 2015

‘Ya know. It’s as good as it’s going to get.’

Mikasa thought as she stood in front of her mirror fidgeting with the dress on her. A short navy blue with lace straps and backless. She pulled down on the dress for the length and adjust the straps so she wouldn’t accidentally flash anyone.  Annie had lend the dress to her for tonight’s plans. Annie said she had gotten several looks when she wore this dress and Mikasa could see why. The dress was pretty but definitely out of her comfort zone clothing-wise.  

“Kasa, are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

She grabbed her wallet and phone and patted a sleeping Olive. In the living room, Armin was buttoning up his white shirt and with his hair half tied up. He turned around and saw her.

“Holy shit.”

“Is, is that a good holy shit?”

“Y-yeah! You just look stunning is all.” 

Mikasa smiled when she saw him scratch at this back of his neck and the red blush across his cheeks. ‘I’ll take that as a good sign.’ She walked to him and rolled his sleeves up to his forearms.

“I was just about to ask you to help me with that.”

“I know. I know you like your shirt sleeves rolled like that.”

“Thank you.”

“Let’s go, I have the tickets in my wallet. Are you driving, or am I?”

“You are. I have no idea where the music hall is.” 

Mikasa chuckled and led them out the door.  In her car, they were both quiet for most of the drive, comfortably. She noticed Armin kept looking at her during the drive. She kept looking at him too. 45 minutes later, they parked in the parking garage for the music hall and walked together arm in arm into the building. They were quickly seated and given programs.


“Beauty and the Beast. I had this movie memorized as a kid” Armin said as he flipped through the program.

“I remember. Eren would always sing the parts you couldn’t.”

“It is very hard to sing ‘Belle’ by yourself when it’s meant to be an ensemble song.”

“Well, you were a very lovely Belle.”


The lights dimmed and the orchestra played the opening melody. They could see the stage and actors clearly and the volume wasn’t overwhelming. Mikasa smiled when she heard Armin whisper-sing lines from Belle.  They had never seen the stage musical, never heard the music from the show either. The actress playing Belle was amazing, Armin whispered praises about her and Ms. Potts. Mikasa felt chills from the Beast’s song, If I can’t love her, the actor emoted the fear and hopelessness he felt. The audience lights faded in as the stage lights faded out.

“Wow.”

“I think this is the best birthday present you ever gotten, Kasa.”

“Remind me to thank Ymir and Story for the tickets.”

Armin turned on his phone and flipped on the camera.

“Mikasa, take this selfie with me, I’ll post it the their facebook wall.”

With a roll of her eyes, Mikasa put her head on his shoulder as he took the picture. He had his arm around her shoulders and took a few shot before deciding which one was the best.

“Beautiful.”

Armin muttered as he uploaded it to facebook. He turned to face her and smiled. They held each other’s gaze for a minute, Armin played with some of her hair. Mikasa glanced down at his lips. ‘Shit I just want to kiss him.’ She looked up as he was leaning in towards her. She closed her eyes as she felt the tip of his nose.

“Mr.Alert!”

“Fuck.” He pulled away, sounding pissed off. “Hi!.”

Armin turned around and saw his student Michael.

“I didn’t know you were coming!”

“I got invited with a uh...Where your parents?”

“Michael! There you are, I- Oh! Hello Mr. Arlert.” An older woman shook his hand.

“Hello Mrs. Kalen.”

“How are you liking the show?”

“I am enjoying it very much, the Belle is amazing.”

Mrs. Kalen face lit up. “I’m very glad to hear that, that’s my oldest playing Belle.”

The lights flickered, signaling the beginning of Act Two.

“We better go to our seats. Have a lovely evening with your wife!”

Mrs.Kalen waved at Mikasa and walked away with Michael in tow. The orchestra played Act One’s melody as the lights faded down.

“I hope she didn’t make you uncomfortable with that.” Armin whispered.

“She didn’t, Being called your wife isn’t bad, if anything it’s nice.”

Mikasa was grateful the lights were off so he wouldn’t see her blush. They both turned their attention to the stage. During Something There, she felt Armin rest his hand on top of her, she moved her hand to properly hold his hand. By the finale of the play, Mikasa has her head rested on Armin’s shoulder and Armin has her hands in his.  They let go each other for the bows. Outside they hold hands again, walking through the downtown square.  

In the center of the square, a small group of musicians are playing soft jazz, people are dancing or eating at the small restaurants surrounding the square. They decide to eat at a small coffee cafe that faces the band.  They talk about the show, about Armin finishing his first year as a teacher and about Akin’s theatre. After coffee they stood in the square listening to the jazz band. Soon they heard the beginning notes of Hey Brother.

“Are you fucking kidding?”

“God damn..” Armin shook his head. He looked at her and smiled. “Might as well dance.”

He led her to the crowd of dancing folk. Holding her hands they moved to the rhythm of the music, singing along with the other people, enjoying the atmosphere. The song slowed down and transitioned into a more softer tune. One of the musicians started singing.

“This the song from Historia and Ymir wedding.”

“Must be very popular.”

Mikasa wrapped her arms around him. She lead them, moving with the timing and even dipping Armin. He spun her around and pulled her tighter to him. Forehead touching and closed eyes, relishing in each other’s closeness. Mikasa’s heart beated faster as Armin ran his hand down her back, hand resting where skin and fabric met.

“Mr. Alert!”

“Fucking hell.” Armin hissed as he looked around.

“Michael! Stop running off!” Mrs. Kalen grabbed his hand “I’m so sorry, he keeps interrupting you and your wife.”

“It’s alright.” Armin directs his attention to Michael “However, it's not alright to run off from your parents in a busy place at night.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, I’ll see you Monday in class. Have a good evening.”

He waved as they left. He faced Mikasa.


“It’s late. Ready to go home?”

“Sure.”

They walked to the car holding hands.

May 27 2015

“Armin?”

“I..”

Mikasa let her voice trail off. She stood in front of Armin, who was eating a late lunch, playing with the necklace Jean and Marco had given her. She told herself to breath slowly and to calmly say the question she wanted to ask.

“I want to visit Eren today. I wanted to know if you..if you wanted to come with me.”

“Yes.”

His answer is immediate and softly asked

“Around five?”

“Sounds good.”

Mikasa turned around and went back to her room. Olive was perched on her favorite pillow. She laid down facing the small cat. She lightly ran her finger along the gray patterns on her face. She loved listening the loud purr that emitted from Olive.  Mikasa heard a knock at her door. She turned and saw Armin head peek in.

“Can I come in?”

She patted the space next to her.


“Kasa, I want to tell you something-”

Mikasa’s phone interrupted him.

“It’s Levi.”

She explain as she answered the phone. Armin played with Olive as Mikasa opened her laptop to discuss numbers or something with Levi. He played Attack the light on his phone after Mikasa had been talking for fifteen minutes. He chuckled when Mikasa hung up her phone and hissed out a “Fucking Chibi.”

“It’s almost five if you want to go.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

Mikasa helped Armin up from her bed. Armin drove to the cemetery, Mikasa in the passenger seat with a small bunch of lilies. They talked a little during the drive with the radio playing softly. Armin kept glancing over at Mikasa. She caught his gaze once which left him smiling.

Hey brother! There's an endless road to rediscover

Hey sister! Know the water's sweet but blood is thicker

Oh, if the sky comes falling down, for you

There's nothing in this world I wouldn't do

Mikasa laughed when Armin started singing along in an exaggerated Texas accent. “You sound just like your grandpa” He continued singing along like that to see her smile.

The parking lot was empty as usual when Armin drove up to the cemetery. Armin opened the door for Mikasa. They held each other’s hands as they walked toward Eren’s grave. At his place, they placed the lilies by his stone. They saw a little rose colored rock placed next to some wildflowers. Armin guessed that Annie and her family had came earlier.

“Armin, would you mind giving me some time alone?”

“Not at all.”

Mikasa smiled at him as he walked away, probably to visit his grandpa’s stone or the Jaeger’s. She sat down on the dry grass and stared at the letters on his stone. She took a breath and started talking to him.

“I miss you...so much.”

Mikasa felt the pressure on her chest but continued.

“I can-can’t believe it’s been a year. I’ve lived a year without you.”

She felt the tears roll off her cheeks.

“Eren, I can’t begin to describe the last year on how much I hurt. The amount of pain when I’m constantly reminded that you’re not here anymore. I remember how I was obsessed about your well being when we were younger and how close we grew in the time after...Thank you. Thank you for everything...I love you.”

Mikasa felt Armin’s arms around her. She let herself cry for a moment longer before wiping her last tears. She moved closer to Armin. After a few moments she stood up.

“I’m gonna wait by the car so I can give you some privacy.”

She kissed the top of his head on impulse and walked back to the car. She sat on the hood and looked at her messages. Annie and her family had indeed stopped by earlier, she saw two emails from Levi and a Facebook notification from Sasha. She opened her Facebook app to see Sasha’s timeline, to see a picture of Connie holding a small girl and Sasha standing next to a teenager, the caption reads:

Two new additions to the Springer household! Jillian, the sleepy one with Connie, and Riley (they/them pronouns) So blessed right now!

Mikasa send a quick congratulations and made a mental note to call them tomorrow. She looked up from her phone when she heard Armin’s feet hit the gravel.

“I have something I want to tell you.”

His voice was hard but his face was smiling softly. Mikasa placed her phone in her pocket.


“You have my attention.”

She noticed how he shifted his weight and how he fights before he speaks.


“Do you remember when we met?”

“..Yes?”

“When I met you I couldn’t stop looking at you.”

Mikasa chuckles “I remember, Eren teased that you thought I was-”

“Pretty. As a kid I thought you were pretty.”

“Oh?”  Where is this conversation headed? she thought as she played with her necklace. 

“After getting to know you better, you were more than pretty. You were smart, strong and you cared about me..and our friends. I’ve liked you since-”

“What?”

She saw Armin’s blush.

“Mikasa, I love you, I’ve been in love with you for years.”

“Oh..”

Mikasa felt her cheeks burn. She couldn’t look Armin in his eyes, she ducked her head down, unable to form words. She heard Armin’s ragged breathing but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him still.

“Le-let’s head back to the house.”

Armin opened her door before he got in the car. She felt her heart beating fast. Mikasa couldn’t stop thinking about Armin just said. He loved her. He loved her in a romantic way. I should’ve known, all the times he held me...shit. Mikasa realized she didn’t actually say anything to him. She noticed the way his shoulders were tense and how the silence between was stiff and uncomfortable. I’m an idiot, why did I freeze up? Mikasa looked out the window for the rest of the ride. Once at the house Armin said “I’m going to take shower.” and left towards his room.

She paced around in the living room. She knew she had to say something. ‘He’s been in love with me for years and I’ve only loved him for a few months..’ she couldn’t deny the happiness she felt when he told her. She barely notice when Armin sat on the coffee table in front of her.

“Lost in thought?” He asked.

“Yes.”

“Listen, I know it was bad timing on my part to tell you how I felt, I mean the date and ..also the location. If I make you uncomfortable-”

“No you don’t.”

Mikasa moved closer to him.

“Armin.” She takes both his hands in hers. “It’s okay.”

“Alright then.”

He stands up and is about to walk back into his room. Mikasa grabs his arm and pulls him into a quick and tight hug. She looks up at him and pulls him down for a small kiss.

“I didn’t want to kiss you on cemetry grounds.”

She gives hims another kiss.

“I love you too.”

She watches as his face lights up before he pulls her into a deep kiss. A kiss that just resonated in her. His hands cupping her faces and her hands at his waist. She moved a hand up his chest, she could feel his heart racing, she smiled into his deeper kisses. At a certain point they became a tangle of limbs of the couch. Armin pulled away a few inches.

“Finally.”

He whispered. They smiled at each other, foreheads touching, happy. Mikasa whispered back.

“Finally.”

Chapter Text

5 years 

“Armin, how do I look?”

Armin turned around to look. Mikasa was standing in the bathroom doorway, wearing a white lacy dress.

“You look absolutely beautiful, Love.”

Armin walked towards her and pulled her into a kiss. Five years later and Armin still feels that that sparks in his chest when he kisses her. He runs his hand through her hair and she pulls him closer to her.

“We do have time before our appointment.” Mikasa says as Armin starts kissing at her neck.

“Oh..whatever shall we do with the time?”

They kiss playfully as Armin slides her dress up. They both freeze as they hear the baby monitor give off a cry. A few seconds go by until there’s loud crying.

“I’ll get her.”

Armin kisses Mikasa once more before leaving and heading to the baby’s room. He opens the door, the room is painted green and smells like baby lotion. Under a nest of blankets and stuffed animals is a fussy one year old crying at Armin.

“Shhh Honey, Papa here.”

The baby calmed down after Armin changed her diaper and rocked her for a bit. Mikasa entered the room and kissed the little girl’s forehead, Olive leaped on the changing table and pawed at Mikasa for attention. The baby reached for Olive.

“We should get going,  Story and Ymir are already there.”

Mikasa quickly dressed their child while Armin got their wallets and phones.Armin put the baby in her seat and Mikasa drove to the courthouse. In the entrance way, they saw Annie, Reiner, Bertholdt and their three kids.

“Jean and Marco are parking. Connie and Sasha and their kids are inside already with Historia and Ymir. “

Annie said as they walked inside. Armin handed the baby to Historia while he and Mikasa went to go fill out the paperwork. They gave each other quick smiles while filling out the paper work. By the time they turned in the paperwork, all of their friends were there, taking up most of the room in the hallway. They chatted and mingled for a bit until they were called in.

The Judge’s room was small, with only 3 pews and a long table. The judge came in a minute later.

“Here’s a happy change, a wedding, I usually get stuck with traffic tickets or fines of the sort.”

Armin and Mikasa introduced themselves. They handed him some papers before they could proscend with the wedding. The judge joked around during the ceremony and gave them advice (“Talking as a happily married man of 35 years, the best thing I can say is be honest with each other and to enjoy the good times.”) they didn’t write their own vows. After so many years together as a couple and almost a lifetime of friendship, not many words could describe the love they had for each other and the promise to love each other more as time went on.

Everyone clapped as they kissed. Sasha took a picture of Armin and Mikasa with the judge. Outside the courthouse, Sasha posed them for pictures and one by one everyone had their pictures taken. Armin and Mikasa showed off the simple wedding bands they had exchanged. Soon everyone went to their cars and headed to Adkins's theatre.

At the theatre, Mikasa’s bosses had decorated their small space as a casual reception for the two. Mikasa had been promoted to financial manager and was a top employee for the theatre. After many years of working there, Mikasa grew close with her co workers and the various actors and technicians that passed through. By the time Mikasa and Armin arrived, Levi was pouring champagne for those who were drinking.

“To Mikasa and Armin Arlert!”

Everyone echoed the cheer and toasted. Finger was placed on a long table and the alcohol was placed near Hanji who was running sound. For the first dance, Armin and Mikasa danced to the song they first danced to at Ymir and Historia’s wedding, by the middle of the song. Armin was carrying their daughter on his hip while holding Mikasa close to him.  Soon the dance floor was open to everyone. Mikasa laughed as she saw a frustrated looking Reiner run after a kicking Jacin (“Dennis takes after Bert and Mia takes after Reiner and so far Jacin takes after me” Annie had said a few weeks ago)

Sasha and Connie had adopted Jillian and Riley a year ago. Armin took a few picture of the family as they danced. Jean and Marco have been married a few years and were currently living in California for Marco’s job. Armin and Mikasa were happy that his work schedule allowed them to fly down to Texas for the wedding. Armin snapped a few pictures of Historia and Ymir dancing with his daughter. Story and Ymir were still married and ready to begin the adoption process. Armin smiled as he thought of how life worked for this moment.

At the end of the party, Armin and Mikasa drove to the cemetery. Their one year was excited to get out of her car seat. Armin took one hand and Mikasa took the other hand of their daughter and they walked. They stopped at Armin’s grandpa’s stone, the Jaegers and the last one.  Armin kneeled down and placed a flower from the reception by the stone.

“Say hi to your Uncle Eren.” Mikasa kneeled.

The little girl waved at his stone.

“Eren, we wished you could’ve been at the wedding...I love you and I miss you.”

Mikasa pulled her daughter close to her to hold while Armin spoke.

“Brother..I did it. I married her.”

They stayed for a few more minutes, arranging the flowers and rocks left from previous visitors and visits. Its when the little girl yawns is when they stand up to leave.

“Say goodbye to Uncle Eren, Eren.

Eren waved her little hand at the stone and fell asleep as soon Mikasa picked her up. Armin opened the door for her as she gently buckled her in. Armin pulled Mikasa into a hug.

“We did it.”  She whispered against his neck.

“I love you.”

“And I love you.”