Chapter Text
Mikasa:
The stairway smelled like sweat and alcohol. It was dark, and the steps were uneven, they tilted downward but the music coming from the bottom was good enough that Mikasa kept walking forward. She was on her way to meet Armin’s friends from college, he swore she would love them. That was the only reason she was walking down the dark cramped stairway to what seemed to be another hot sticky college party.
Eren and Armin were already there, Mikasa was coming from a late rehearsal for her upcoming show. At the bottom of the steps the basement came into view, it was unfinished with white brick walls and furniture that looked like it had been picked off the side of the street on trash day. People stood by the walls and talked while some were dancing in front of the speakers blaring the Gorillaz’ song Feel Good Inc. The people she was looking for had claimed the couches in the corner of the basement. Eren had a red solo cup in his hand and Armin was waving widely at Mikasa. She smiled a small smile that she had reserved for those she cared about.
“How was rehearsal” Armin smiled once she reached them, he moved over pushing himself against Eren in a way that suggested he was no longer sober.
“Awful, I hate not being in control of what I’m playing” Mikasa moved to sit down in the space made by Armin, smiling politely at the woman she was sitting next to.
“Wait, Mikasa” Now that she was looking, the person she had sat down next to looked awfully familiar. Almost like the girl who had pierced Mikasa’s conch. The one who had flirted with Mikasa until she had given her her number, and who Mikasa now spent half her time checking her phone to see if she’d texted. The girl Mikasa was really hoping to go on a date with next Friday.
“Sasha, I didn’t know you were friends with Armin”
“No I’m not” she stopped for a second before quickly adding “not that I don’t want to be it’s just we only meet tonight, he’s a friend of my buddy Jean they’re in school together”
“Oh, well I’m glad to see you here” Mikasa smiled at her, trying to be sure Sasha understood that Mikasa was more than excited as a friend.
“Me too” The voice Sasha used definitely suggested that she had gotten Mikas’s meaning and felt the same way.
“Wow you guys know each other already” Armin was leaning forward in excitement, his eyes trying to portray something to Mikasa but he was not getting it across.
“Yeah, I met her at the tattoo place, she’s the one who pierced me”
“Oh wow that’s crazy, Jean did tell me his friends were working to become piercers” Armin had a cheesy smile on his face that told Mikasa he was about to give one of his drunk musings. “It’s crazy, the world is such a small place and we’re all so connected to each other. I mean maybe we're all meant to meet, like in case me and Jean weren’t friends you guys meet to be sure we’d end up knowing each other” Mikasa looked over at Sasha rolling her eyes smiling at the small laugh Sasha was clearly trying to hold back.
“Yeah sure Armin, but maybe you don’t need to drink any more or you’ll end up going home with Eren tonight” Mikasa knew Armin was about to protest her comment but Eren spoke first.
“Hey Mikasa, that's not fair! Me and Armin don’t only hook up when we’re drunk”
“Oh yeah, sure Eren” Mikasa turned to Sasha, deciding to ignore her friends and their self-destructive behavior for her own sanity. “So do you want to smoke”
“Yeah me and Connie were about to, we only just got here so we haven’t had a chance yet”
“Perfect, should we go outside”
“Yeah lets go, Connie wanna smoke”
“You know it, where’d Jean go? I know he needs to destress after his last pre-med test.” Connie stood up from the armchair he was just sitting in stretching before leaning to look around the crowded basement. “That idiot decided to go to college and is now super stressed out”
“Me and Mikasa are gonna go outside and smoke, you go find Jean and meet us out there” Sasha grabbed Mikasa’s hand and pulled her off of the couch and towards the stairs. The two of them walked out of the hot basement and into the cold fall air, still holding hands.
The stars were hidden behind a layer of street lights and the ground was damp and squashed beneath Mikasa’s feet but she had never been happier to be anywhere before. Sasha was pulling out a pre rolled blunt and an adorable Hello Kitty lighter and Mikasa felt the urge to lean over and kiss her. So she pulled her hand out of Sasha’s and brought it up to rest on her cheek and used it to turn Sasha’s head towards her. It was hard to see in the shadows of the house, but Sasha seemed frozen in the moment, her brown eyes staring into Mikasa’s. Leaning forward Mikasa could feel the heat of Sasha's face and her small puff of breath and was about to close the last bit of distance when Connie’s voice could be heard in the distance.
“Finally found Jean, you two haven't started yet have you”
“No” Sasha called out, breathing hard and muttering “and we won’t be starting anything else tonight thanks to you” Mikasa laughed, grabbing Sasha's hand again as the two women leaned away from each other.
“Perfect, so Mikasa I didn’t know you and Armin were friends” Connie walked over to stand next to Sasha as he spoke.
“Yep, well I didn’t know you guys knew Armin when I meet you”
“To be fair we didn’t know him then, we meet him tonight” Sasha said leaning closer to Mikasa so her soldering was resting against Mikasa. “Jean over here said we had to meet him, probably because he’s got such a fucking crush”
“Shut up Sasha we all know who you like” Some guy who has walked up with Connie said. “Hi I’m Jean by the way” The man reached his hand out to shake Mikasa’s.
“Oh hi” Mikasa offered what she thought was a polite smile. It was mainly for Armin that she tried to be polite, but it didn’t hurt that Jean was Sasha's friend.
“Here” Sasha handed her the blunt, she must’ve lit it when Jean was introducing himself.
“Thanks” Mikasa turned away from Sasha so she didn’t blow smoke in her face.
“So what do you do Mikasa”
“Why Jean, you wanna define me by my job like a capitalist” Mikasa might have been a little proud of herself for the way her retort caused Sasha to snort.
“No, no sorry that’s not what I meant” He was definitely stumbling over his words, but Mikasa stood there stone faced taking another hit of the blunt before passing it over to Connie.
“Damn Jean, she’s got you there, you need some better get to know you questions” Connie was laughing as he spoke. The four of them continued to pass the blunt around, they spent half of the time mocking Jean and the other half arguing over who had the best music taste listing their favorite artists.
“You’ve got some really good taste in music Mikasa” Connie was leaning against the wall of the house as he spoke.
“I should hope so, I’ve been a musical prodigy since I was like five years old” She had to fight the urge to scoff at Connie, but she was still trying to impress Sasha by being nice to her friends.
“Damn really, what kind of prodigy, like a specific instrument or” Sasha was leaning into Mikasa as she spoke. The two women had been standing close the whole while they were outside steadily leaning further and further into each other and now they both supported the other's weight.
“Uh, I can play most any instrument if I tried but I specialized in cello and double bass” Mikasa hated talking about playing music, she preferred to tell people what kind of music she preferred to what she played.
“Wow you’re so cool” Sasha was definitely high but Mikasa couldn’t say anything knowing she too was less than sober. Considering the fact that Mikasa was giggling at Sasha she bet most people could tell that too.
“I think we’re done, let's go back inside” They all nodded and followed Jean back down the narrow stairs to the basement. Mikasa saw Eren and Armin making out on the ugly green couch they had all been sitting on before. Mikasa knew what would happen, the two men would go back to Eren’s shitty apartment that he never cleaned and fuck. Then Armin would come knocking at her dorm tomorrow morning hungover and neglected after Eren woke up and went about his day. Like every other time the two of them hooked up drunk. Mikasa would have to deal with the fall out tomorrow but for tonight she would flirt with Sasha.
“God I cannot deal with them” Mikasa turned and grabbed Sasha’s hand. “Want to dance”
“I’d love to” The two made their way to the cleared area of the floor, it couldn’t quite be called a dance floor. Mikasa pulled Sasha to her when they started dancing. There was some party music blasting in the background, the base could be felt in Mikasa’s chest and her heart was beating as fast as the beat with Sasha’s body so close to her that she could feel her body heat emanating from her. She knew that she liked Sasha, they had been flirting with each other for weeks, ever since she went in to get pierced and meet Sasha for the first time. The music, even though it was loud and obnoxious, flowed over her and the beat lulled her into a trance where she was just swaying with Sasha her hands on her hips, and Mikasa leaned forward laying her head on Sasha’s shoulder. The moment felt too sweet to be occurring in some random basement full of drunken college students and a sticky floor.
Eren’s raspy voice could be heard in the basement, he was half screaming to be heard over the speakers. Mikasa looked up from where her head rested on Sasha’s shoulder to see where Eren was. The idiot was on a card table singing into his half empty red solo cup.
“God I should go over there to be sure he doesn’t crack his skull open” Mikasa sighed and pulled away from Sahsa to head over to where Eren was drunkenly swaying while there was a break in the vocals.
“Wow I didn’t know Eren could sing” Sasha grabbed Mikasa’s hand and the two walked over the now growing crowd around Eren.
“Oh yeah I guess he can sing” Mikasa had reached Armin, Connie, and Jean who were standing at the bottom of the green card table Eren was wobbling on, the table looked like it was about to collapse underneath him.
“I don’t ever want to feel like I did that day oh take me to the place I love take me all the way” Eren had now reached the chorus of the song and was singing his heart out, he had spilled some of whatever he was drinking in his shoes and Mikasa knew he would be complaining about his now sticky vans to her tomorrow.
“Damn Mikasa Eren got some pipes” Connie was now standing next to her and Sasha and Mikasa simply nodded along watching Eren for the moment she knew was coming where he fell off the table onto the hard concrete.
“Right!” Sasha leaned over Mikasa to talk to Connie. “I bet he would sound even better with your base Mikasa” She looked up with big eyes, and Mikasa ended up with a small smile on her face.
“Oh yeah for sure, imagine Jean’s trumpet right there too damn you guys could make a band”
“Damn Connie don’t forget about me, I play guitar you know”
“Really Sasha, I didn’t know you play guitar, we have to play together some time” Mikasa smiled down at Sasha who was now half leaning against Mikasa’s chest as they talked.
“I would love to, we definitely have to jam” Mikasa decided in that moment that as soon as she was sober she would have to ask out Sasha.
“No guys, we should actually make a band. I play drums, Mikasa you play bass, Sasha you play guitar, Eren will sing, and we have Jean for any brass” Connie was excitedly swinging his hands around as he talked and accidentally hit Jean in the face as he walked up behind his friend.
“Connie” Jean sounded indigent and Mikasa could feel Sasha laughing hysterically into her chest, so she put her arms around Sasha’s shaking figure just to be sure she didn’t fall or that’s what she thought she would say if anyone asked.
“What Jean, I’m busy making a band” The moment Connie spoke there was a loud crash that sounded behind them. Eren had fallen off the unstable green card table in a horribly ungraceful heap that only a drunk Eren was capable of. Mikasa rolled her eyes and reluctantly let go of Sasha to slowly walk over to the dumbass she unfortunately had to call her best friend. While Armin rushed over to crouch by Eren’s side in concern.
“Well Eren, I don't know what you want us to do, you're the pre-med student here” Mikasa said, sighing as she kneeled down next to Armin on the cold concrete Eren had just landed on. Eren just grunted back.
“Hey is he okay?” Connie said, leaning over Armin’s shoulder. “Can’t have our new lead singer dead”
“Who knows” Mikasa said while Armin sighed and looked around the room for something.
“He’ll probably have a killer headache tomorrow,” Connie said while laughing.
“If you're serious about forming a band we should have Armin play keyboard” Jean was blushing and Mikasa sighed and hid a smile behind her hand. She would never know why Armin still drunkenly chased Eren when it was so clear that Jean was pinning after him he was a much better option in her opinion.
“We’re forming a band” Armin looked up from where he was attempting to take care of Eren with the question clear on his face.