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They were both aloof. Equally. Similarly. The oddest pair to be seen in the dating pool. Everyone thought Mikasa had her eyes on Eren, everyone thought Annie’s eyes were not on anything at all.
They were seen walking through hallways like passing planets heading in opposite directions, never to be seen passing each other again for the next 100 years or something. And then several weeks later they were trekking side-by-side, hand-in-hand, heads bent down and murmuring in their soft voices.
It was by far the strangest thing their circle of friends had ever seen. Even Ymir, self-proclaimed matchmaker, was completely taken aback.
It just sort of happened. No one knew how it happened, except for Mikasa and Annie, apparently.
The two hadn’t announced it either right away. It took some questionable rumors and not-so amusing assumptions for one of them to finally break the ice.
“It’s from me,” Mikasa said evenly, when Connie tittered at the deep red mark bruising Annie’s neck. “We’re dating. That hickey’s from me.”
Everyone at their table stared at her with eyes as wide as the plates they were eating from. Connie choked on his own saliva, and Mikasa levelled them all with her usual indifferent gaze. Next to her, Annie wasn’t paying attention, too occupied with scrawling notes on a book that her thesis was based on.
“Since when!” Sasha spouted.
“The fourth.”
“You fucking liar,” Ymir pointed an accusing fork. “Fucking lies.”
Mikasa blinked, slowly. The boys were gawking at her, speechless, Eren with his mouth frozen in the act of hovering sandwich into his mouth and Armin flicking his head back and forth between Mikasa and Annie.
Reiner and Bertolt just stared, fascinated. Jean looked heartbroken, Marco patted his back.
“I’m not lying,” she said.
“I would have noticed it.” Ymir narrowed her eyes into slits. “Normally there would be blushing, awkwardness, tension. I would taste the tension. You and grumpy shorts exuded none of that. NONE!”
Mikasa shrugged very lightly. “I suppose we’re not a normal couple.”
Historia crossed her arms petulantly from beside Ymir, giving Mikasa a once-over. “Ymir’s right. It all seemed so sudden. Annie’s been ignoring you since we sat here!”
Mikasa furrowed her brows. “She's working on her thesis. It’s due this week and she has yet to revise, thought you all knew.”
“Yeah but like,” Historia put her hands out and tried to demonstrate. “Where are the heart eyes, the subtle smiles, the longing stares? We’ve all sat at this table since the start of the semester and you tell us you’ve been together since the fourth but nothing has changed!”
Mikasa quirked her mouth to the side. “I don’t really see the problem.”
“We don’t believe you,” Ymir countered with her fork. “Source or it didn’t happen.”
“Are you two really?” Armin asked, surprised but curious.
Mikasa tapped her own metal utensils on her plate contemplatively, before turning slightly to the side. She placed an ever-so gentle hand on Annie’s shoulder, feeling everyone watching with bated breath. It was risky disturbing Annie in a middle of a study session, and none of them thought twice to ask when she opened a book instead of eating lunch like everyone else. It guaranteed a punch in the solar plexus if you as much as accidentally brush against her and break her focus.
(Reiner can vouch.)
Mikasa tilted her head down to catch Annie’s icy blue eyes. “Annie?”
“Hmm…?” Annie replied, nonchalantly, simply, naturally, like she was breathing air, like Mikasa’s voice and touch had been expected. Reiner gaped in disbelief, but Annie was still absorbed on scribbling words on her book.
“How long have we been dating?”
“A month.”
Mikasa nodded. “Our friends didn’t believe me.”
“They’re idiots. You don’t tell lies.”
“I think they’re just surprised, thought they’d need another confirmation.”
So Annie looked up towards the table, face impassive, except maybe for the hint of irritation that wrinkled her nose. She glanced at them one by one before saying. “We’re dating. Mikasa’s my girlfriend. Now stop pestering her.”
Then she dropped her head and returned to her work for the rest of lunch. Mikasa smiled at their baffled expressions in triumph.
Days after that, everyone had been dying to know how it happened. Who asked who? How did their first date go? Did they even go on a date? Ymir joked that the two just sat on the floor reading while holding pinkies, and the rest had almost agreed. It seemed on brand for people like Mikasa and Annie, who looked content to do nothing in their spare time.
Annie especially, who was known to contain not a single romantic bone in her body. But after the admission, they started to notice the changes more clearly; Annie waiting outside classrooms for Mikasa, Annie ordering an extra little bowl of soup for Mikasa, Annie saving a spot during their group hangouts for Mikasa, Annie getting a hickey from Mikasa!
Pretty bizarre things to see truly.
Admittedly it wasn’t so grand (except the hickey, which everyone still conspired about, but Annie didn’t seem to care at all what they think and Mikasa kept reminding that yes it was from her, yes they can do stuff like that, no there isn’t any more and I’m not telling you anyway so stop asking, Eren). But Annie kept a routine and soon her subtle gestures became a little more affectionate.
She’s by Mikasa’s side instantly after waiting for her class to finish, she wipes Mikasa’s chin with a napkin when Mikasa spilled soup on herself, she holds her hand once Mikasa sits on the spot she reserved for her, she kisses Mikasa goodbye…!
Truly bizarre.
Her friends interrogate her, “Who the fuck had the balls first?” was the first question by Ymir, mostly said as a joke, because Annie looked so serious and it wouldn’t hurt to get shorty to smile a bit more but Annie pointed a rigid finger under Ymir’s chin and threatened to suplex her. Eren was excited to see it be done against anyone other than him but Armin thwacked him behind the head before he could say something stupid.
There were no more questions after that.
So they went to Mikasa, who looked pretty chill about answering any of their inquiries.
“I confessed first,” she said softly, food untouched, empty seat on her right. Annie had told them to eat without her but Mikasa had opted to wait until she returned. “She was pretty surprised.”
“What did you say?” Historia asked with wide eyes, leaning over with her elbows on the table and her chin propped up by her hands, listening earnestly.
Mikasa conjured one of her little smiles. “That’s for Annie’s ears alone.”
“Aww.” Historia slumped down in disappointment and Ymir caressed her hair to give comfort.
“I can believe that,” Reiner supplied, “Annie’s not the type to make the first move. Right, Bertolt?”
Bertolt flushed. “No, she doesn’t look it.” Reiner grinned at him with a teasing spark in his eye. “Stop that, she has a girlfriend now. I won’t be subjected to this.” He sighed and addressed the next words at Mikasa, “I didn’t ask her out, Annie hadn’t been interested at all, anyway. But she does seem like the type to wait for a confession.”
“You’d be surprised,” Mikasa replied with another tiny smile.
“What?” Eren spoke with his face twisting in confusion. “What happened exactly?”
Mikasa opened her mouth, then closed it, then stared straight into his eyes. Eren stared back, aware that she was thinking of a response. She had done that so many times when they were younger it had often unnerved him, now it was only slightly bemusing.
Sans Armin—who’s also aware, and also eagerly waiting for details—the rest of their group were not so informed of the tendency. They sat there squirming and clearing their throats.
“Did Annie coerce you into a relationship?” Jean narrowed his eyes as he demanded. “Blink if you need help and we’ll beat her up for you.”
“Jean,” Marco chastised, pushing on his shoulder. “Don’t be rude.”
“What if that’s the case?!”
“It’s not,” Mikasa said, “Annie wouldn’t do that. I dated her willingly.”
Ymir snickered at the choice of words.
“And I can’t tell you,” Mikasa continued, watching two or three downcast expressions on the table. “I made a promise. All I can share is I confessed first, Annie returned my feelings, and we went on a date the next day.”
“What did you do?” Historia asked giddily with Sasha nodding in agreement.
Mikasa’s face relaxed as she recalled. “We went to the carnival in the evening. I mentioned that Eren and Armin used to take me there when we were younger and play all the stall games. She was more interested in the rides, though. We tried them all, her favorite was the Ferris wheel.”
Connie sniggered discreetly. “I wonder why…”
“She liked looking down at everyone and feeling tall.”
Ymir threw her head back and cackled.
“Did you still try the games?” Armin asked with great interest. “I heard they added more prizes for the Ring Toss.”
“And the Darts!” Eren exclaimed. “They added more balloons.”
Mikasa looked at them brightly. “We played those. But Annie thought it was too easy and got bored.”
“Easy???” Eren repeated in disbelief.
“Did she get you a prize?” Historia perked up expectantly.
Mikasa nodded. “A large Domo plushie.”
“Domo-kun?!” Eren and Armin exclaimed with their jaws to the floor, being hardcore Domo fans.
Sasha squealed. Historia clapped her hands in delight. “This is so cute! Ymir take notes.”
“Already on it, babe,” Ymir tittered as Historia gripped at her arm. “Damn, didn’t think shorty would out-romance me with a carnival game. This is great.”
“I sincerely hope it’s not me you’re calling short, Ymir,” deadpanned a voice, dripping with a little malice. “I’d hate to waste my lunch by slamming it on your ugly face when I just got it.”
“ANNIE!” Historia greeted cheerfully as the other woman approached. “We were just talking about you!”
Annie paused, tightened her hold on her plate, and turned to circle around the table. “That’s it.”
“BABE?!” Ymir faced her girlfriend in betrayal.
“Annie,” Mikasa called out to her, stopping Annie in her pursuit by reaching out and gripping the hem of her grey hoodie. The boys were already prepared to lean away if Annie passed them. “I was just telling them about our date.”
Annie glared directly at Ymir, who raised her hands in a gesture of surrender. She sighed and sat down. “They’re still asking?”
Mikasa shrugged. “It’s time we told them, don’t you think?”
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Reiner demanded with his arms crossed, unintentionally flexing his biceps, fixating Annie with a hard look. Annie returned it with a bored one.
“Didn’t cross my mind.”
Reiner made a sound like he was shot through the heart while Bertolt rolled his eyes. “You could have mentioned it at some point,” Bertolt said gently, “it sounded like you were having a good time. We’re happy for you.”
Annie looked down at her plate and poked a meatball with a fork, huffing quietly. “Thanks. Mikasa’s nice.”
“Nice??” Sasha gasped, incredulous. “Just nice?? My girl over here just took you to a carnival and rode all the rides with you! NICE!”
“We went to my place afterwards,” Mikasa added, appearing utterly amused. “I made her dinner and we cuddled on the couch watching movies.”
“Mikasa…” Annie dropped her fork and whined, hands flying to her face.
“AND SHE MADE YOU DINNER!” Sasha proclaimed, being an avid lover of food. Annie kept burying her face in her palms as the rest of the table let out ”aww”s, some teasing and some sincere. “And all you say is nice??”
“What did you cook?” Ymir asked, grinning, fueled by Annie’s embarrassment.
“Katsudon. She was curious about it after watching the Food Network.”
“Mikasaa….”
“I made her two servings because she loved it so much.”
“Mikasaaa…”
Sasha could have fainted right then and there, while the boys ogled at the exchange, not accustomed to witnessing the normally standoffish Annie slouch over her seat, covering her face, with the tips of her ears turning red as the only indication that she was flustered instead of annoyed. Connie joined in Ymir’s laughter.
“That’s so sweet!” Historia gushed out loud as Sasha was fanning herself. “Mikasa you’re such a thoughtful girlfriend!”
“Thank you.”
“ANNIE SAY SOMETHING!” Historia ordered with her arms akimbo.
“I passed my thesis defense.”
Ymir squawked, “You dumb nerd, say something to your GIRLFRIEND! It better not just be nice!”
Annie shot her neck up and gave everyone a flat look, she was met with grins and cheeky smiles and expectant looks. But as Annie turned to confront Mikasa—who was staring at her with fondness and mirth—her naturally drooping eyes melted into something more heartfelt the longer she maintained eye contact. Her shoulders slacked, losing their tension, brows easing from its tight strings. Annie sighed and grabbed Mikasa’s hand that was resting on the table, threading their fingers for all to see.
In a rarely soft voice, with a tiny clip of sarcasm, she said, “Thank you for taking me to the carnival and for the dinner you made a month ago. It was amazing, you’re amazing. I love you, hearts hearts.”
The girls squealed, the boys cheered. Ymir wiped imaginary tears from her eyes, Reiner and Bertolt gave Annie two pairs of thumbs up, Eren and Armin looked absolutely proud, Jean was incredibly moved, Marco demurely clapped his hands, Connie was snickering to himself, and Sasha was crying.
Historia admired the scene with a sniff. “I love girlfriends.”
Annie ignored them all in favor of Mikasa’s reaction. Mikasa smiled, showing her teeth this time, eyes crinkling along with the curve of her lips as she bent down to peck Annie on her cheek. “I love you, too. And congratulations.”
Annie slumped tiredly and squeezed their conjoined hands. “Thanks. Our professor’s an ass for giving us a thesis at the start of the goddamn semester. I don’t think I can read books the same again.”
Mikasa gazed at her with pride. “You did well. We should celebrate.”
“I’d rather just take a power nap.”
“Annie!” Armin tried to get her attention. Annie looked over raising a brow. “Mikasa said you won her a Domo-kun plushie. Eren and I would like to see!”
Annie faced her girlfriend. “You told them about that, too?”
“It’s Domo-kun, Annie. They are my Domo-kun loving family. Let them see Domo-kun.”
“Fine.”
“We should all go to the carnival,” Marco suggested excitedly. “I heard they’re coming back this week. We can go ride all the rides and play all the games. Sounds like a fun idea, and congratulations Annie.”
So he had heard, Annie nodded her thanks and chose to mute everyone’s conversation once they started talking about balloons and cotton candies and plushies. Mikasa bumped their shoulders together when Annie started groaning.
“Could be fun,” Mikasa said, “I’ll win you a prize this time.”
Annie gave her a smile. “You thought those games were just as boring as I did.”
“I’d still like to win something for you,” Mikasa said quietly, rubbing her thumb across the back of Annie’s hand, and silently reveling in the way Annie’s cheeks tint in pink.
Annie hummed, leaning onto Mikasa’s side tiredly, pressing their arms and thighs together. One thing that Mikasa hadn’t expected when they started dating was that Annie loved physical affection. She had seemed content to just be around Mikasa’s presence, until Mikasa held her hand during their date at the crowded carnival and Annie always reached out to connect and touch since then.
“Impress me. But I don’t think I’ll have enough social battery to deal with our friends along the way. Reiner would spend all night at the bumper cars to try and capsize everyone.”
Mikasa paused to imagine it and agreed. “Let’s take a day off together first. I recall you wanted a power nap.”
Annie lifted her head from where it was resting on Mikasa’s shoulder, smiling again. “You’d take a power nap with me?”
“How long exactly is this power nap?”
“13 hours.”
“Well,” Mikasa nodded easily as she began sifting through her food. “You deserve it after your hard work on your thesis.”
“I fought Shadis tooth and nail for that A.”
“I’m proud of you.”
Annie grinned, satisfied, and ate with her.
Four days later, their circle of friends meandered across the entirety of the carnival, handing each other sticks of whatever edible thing they managed to find and throwing darts and ducks at the first stalls they see. Reiner got kicked out of the bumper cars at one point and Jean accidentally lit a fire cracker while playing water guns.
At the Ring Toss, Mikasa won a set of keychains that were all of Nyan Cat, and Annie snorted as she took one and hooked it around her belt hole.
They enjoyed only one ride tonight. Mikasa watched as Annie leaned over and admired the glittering expanse of lights of the fare below, with Annie squeezing her hand as their tiny cab went higher and higher into starlit sky.