Work Text:
oh, my brother
don’t you worry about me
He crosses the sea for her.
Porco has traveled plenty, being brought to foreign battlefields on behalf of Marley, carrying the Jaw Titan into war as the tool he’s made to be. He is well-acquainted to the sea and the rough travels that come along with it.
This trip is different.
He gives a false name on the boat, and the shitty red armband that identifies him for the world to sea is stuffed away in his bag, hidden from the world.
Being able to be out, among strangers, as a nameless face as he travels to the land of his enemies is a bizarre sensation.
He sleeps where he can, doing odd jobs here and there for a place to stay and food in his belly, only to depart the next day. Eventually, he is finally in the same city as the Survey Corps, and his stomach is knotted over and over as he blindly searches for the barracks, asking who he can in the street to point him in the right direction.
When he reaches his destination, he asks a soldier for her. A new recruit, possibly, based on the youthful face that hasn’t quite thinned out with adulthood. She narrows her brown eyes at him, flicking black hair over her shoulder.
“Ackerman?” She cocks a hip out and crosses her arms. “She’s off duty. I saw her go into town with some of the other Vets.”
Shit. Of course.
He wonders if he’ll ever see her before she’s sent out on a mission once again.
“Thanks,” he grumbles, and the Scout gives him an odd look before she departs.
Porco wanders aimlessly, hoping to catch a glimpse of her somewhere. To be able to spot her from afar and shout her name, getting her attention.
To show her that he’s crossed a horizon to reach her.
He wanders all day until his feet hurt, coming across the center of town where merchants have open stalls around a large fountain. He sits at the fountain in the main square, slouching as he sinks to the further against the stone. He begins to feel defeated; there’s so many districts, and he’s a nobody. He’s seeking out one of the most famous people on Paradis, yet this somehow has made her that much more unreachable. He tilts his head back until he meets the cold stone, staring up at the sky.
The blue sky is streaked with orange from the sunset.
He sighs, wondering how his parents are doing. They’re under a grey sky, the smog of the industrial state of Marley often covering Liberio with the disgusting byproduct.
“Porco?”
His head snaps to his left, in the direction of the soft but shocked voice.
There she is.
In her white dress, pink cardigan, and signature red scarf as she stand next to a lithe blonde man who looks between them curiously. Her slate eyes are wide as she stares at Porco, as if she thinks he’s an apparition that will disappear if she moves toward him.
So he scrambles to his feet and goes to her, leaving his bag by the fountain.
He throws his arms around her, and she stumbles with the impact, still in disbelief.
“Mikasa,” he mutters, turning his head to press his nose to her hair. She smells like jasmine, and it’s infinitely more blissful to hold her and breathe in her scent instead of the faint traces that have clung to his jacket.
She’s trembling in his embrace. Slowly, she brings her arms around him, her palms flat as she splays her hands over his shoulderblades. Her hold tightens as she realizes that he’s really here, and she shakes as she lets tears fall from her eyes. She presses her forehead to his shoulder, hiding as she cries and digs her fingers into his back, clinging to him with newfound desperation.
“You’re here,” she says, muffled against his shirt.
He rubs her back and then settles his hand in her hair, threading through the cropped, dark strands. “I am. I’m here as long as you’ll have me.”
Mikasa pulls back so she can look at him, her eyes glassy as she searches his expression for any signs of deceit.
After a moment, relief makes her shoulders sag, and he leans forward to claim her lips in a kiss.
It’s been a month since he’s seen her last. Since he’s held her in his arms, in his bed, leaving marks on her body and kissing her in intimate places no one else has before. Since he’s heard her musical laugh or seen her warm, soft smile.
She matches his fervency in their kiss, the absence having affected them both.
A small cough besides them brings them both back to reality, and they part to look to the man beside them.
His bright eyes are alight with amusement and endearment as he regards the two with a small smile. Mikasa’s face flushes crimson as she takes a step back from Porco, though one of her hands lingers on his arm.
“Armin,” she says, her smile unwavering, albeit a bit embarrassed for such a public display. “This is Porco.”
Porco tenses as Armin’s sharp eyes focus on him, and understanding flashes. Porco feels like he’s being figured out, and he realizes that he probably is - Mikasa has spoken about Armin countless times over. He’s her best friend and confidant, but he’s also a brilliant man and even better strategist.
When Armin stretches out a hand, though, Porco relaxes and shakes the other shifter’s hand.
“Nice to finally meet you,” Armin greets him. He doesn’t tell Porco how much he’s heard about him; they both are spoken highly of by Mikasa. “We’re about to head back home for dinner, if you’re hungry?”
“Yes!” Porco nods, excited at the idea of food and being with them before turning to Mikasa. He slides his hand into hers, and she threads their fingers together.
Home.
Armin takes the lead ahead of them, letting the lovers walk hand in hand behind him.
Porco glances up at the sky, and then looks to Mikasa beside him. The hole etched in his heart when she left Marley is now filled with warmth, blooming across his body as he watches her smile.
I’m home, Marcel.