Mikasa tries to hide hickeys given by Eren with her scarf, but when her scarf slips off, it leads to a lot of awkward questions from the other trainees. Set near the end of chapter 51. Thanks!
Hickeys (Eremika for ships-that-fly)
Sometimes, Eren volunteers to help with Mikasa’s chores. To Mikasa, it’s relatively obvious what he really wants. She supposes it would be obvious to the others too, but she thanks the heavens that they’re either too dense or too busy with their own ridiculousness to notice.
Usually it happens like this: Mikasa will notice that their stock of firewood is running low or that it’s about time to head into the markets again, and over breakfast, she’ll offer to take care of it. The others will shrug and thank her for her efforts, and Eren will ever-so-subtly volunteer to help her out. No one finds this the least bit suspect because, y’know, helping each other out is a thing they do but one would think they would have noticed the fact that, when Eren offers to help, whatever chore that needs to be done takes twice as long as it should.
She supposes she can’t complain.
Any time alone is better than none.
She just hopes no one will catch on in the end.
It’s a Saturday afternoon, and today, she and Eren are supposed to be fetching water from the well a little way away. That’s not what they’re doing, obviously.
In reality, Eren is sitting against a tree and Mikasa is straddling his thighs with her forehead pressed against his. Her scarf and cardigan have been tossed to one side while collar of Eren’s shirt hangs lower on his chest than normal, and he grins sheepishly at her and pecks a spot on her neck.
“You’re going to want to cover that up.”
She narrows her gaze at him. “You didn’t.”
“Well, I tried not to,” he says stupidly. “Besides, your scarf can cover it up no problem.”
Mikasa scowls. “How many times do I have to ask?” she snaps, snatching at her scarf. “They’re going to notice if you keep leaving marks.”
“I’m sorry,” he says, aiming a kiss at her cheek. She dodges it and gets to her feet. “That’s the last one, I swear. I’ll be more careful next time.”
“You said that last time too,” she grumbles.
Eren sighs. “I’m sorry,” he says again (seriously, this time), and he gets up as well and adjusts her scarf to make sure the hickey underneath her jaw is well out of sight. “They won’t notice,” he assures her, placing a gentle kiss on her forehead. “They never do. Don’t worry. Let’s head back, okay?”
She makes a face and hopes he’s right.
It’s not so much a bad thing if anyone notices – it’s that they will never hear the end of it. Mikasa will be honest and admit that right now: she is not embarrassed by the idea because pfft as if Sasha and Connie aren’t doing it when they think no one’s looking, and as if Jean hasn’t tried suggesting doing more than just kissing with terrible pick up lines.
It’s that she would prefer that her private life remained private – which is difficult enough already, having to live with the rest of the new Squad Levi in the same cabin.
Sasha’s pointing at a spot under her jaw, and Mikasa freezes, hands stilling on the plate she’s scrubbing clean. It’s just past lunch, and the taller girl has offered to help her wash dishes – unfortunately for her, she’s also one of the more… observant members of the new Squad Levi.
“Uh – ”she starts, but Sasha’s too quick for her and before she knows it, she’s got a finger against the scarf to tug it down for a better look. Mikasa tries shoves her hands away, but it’s too late: Sasha’s got a smirk on her face the size of Wall Maria.
“That’s a hickey,” she states.
“Well?” asks Sasha, nudging her elbows slyly.
“I think Christa needs help with the firewood,” says Mikasa hastily.
“It was Eren, wasn’t it?”
“I think you should help Christa,” Mikasa says firmly, her tone dangerous and her eyes cold and steely.
Sasha lets out an audible gulp. “I think I might,” she squeaks.
Her scarf slips again as she’s passing Christa in the hall.
She gets all of three steps past her when the smaller girl giggles.
She says nothing else, but Mikasa knows exactly what she’s talking about, and she flushes and tucks the scarf more securely around her neck.
There are voices sounding from out back, and Mikasa doesn’t know who they think they’re kidding, but Sasha and Connie are the biggest loud mouths of the squad. Of course Sasha would blab to Connie first, and of course that conversation would be among the loudest of the afternoon.
They’re sitting on the back steps of Levi-Heichou’s cabin, peeling carrots for dinner and Mikasa’s around the corner with an armload of washing but their voices are loud enough for her to feel like they’re standing right next to her. She holds back a huff.
“I’m telling you, she has one right underneath her jaw, I saw it.”
“Are we even talking about the same person? It’s Mikasa, there’s no way –”
There’s a sort of polite cough, and Mikasa knows before the speaker even speaks that it’s Armin. “I think you two should keep your voices down,” he’s saying, and she can’t help but breathe a sigh of relief. Armin will shut them up – he’s the only one barring herself who’s relatively reasonable.
“You say that like you know something we don’t,” Connie points out.
There’s a pause. Mikasa suspects that Armin’s just shrugging.
“I’ve known them a fair while longer than you guys have,” he says mildly.
“So you know then,” pipes Sasha. “Tell us, Armin – was it Eren?”
Another pause. “I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
There’s an explosion of sound from around the corner, and Mikasa catches Sasha yelling “I KNEW IT!” and Connie swearing in disbelief. She scowls to herself.
She’s going to have to have a serious talk with Armin later.
Jean catches on late because he’s been at the markets all days getting some basic grocery shopping done.
To her surprise (and great relief), neither Sasha nor Connie tell him what he’s missed right away. Instead, he goes through the usual motions of unpacking today’s shopping while Mikasa watches. He doesn’t ask for help (Mikasa’s not entirely sure if he’s just being polite or if he’s being stubborn or if he’s trying to impress her), but she grabs the basket of vegetables from the wagon before he can stop her and, for the third time that day, her scarf slips.
Mikasa pauses, wondering howeveryone is suddenly three hundred times more observant than they are usually.
His gaze darkens. “That bastard, Jaeger.”
Mikasa says nothing. She’s done with this conversation. She puts the basket of vegetables back on the wagon and she turns and walks away.
She can hear Jean swearing to himself as she rounds the corner.
She spends most of dinner glaring at her friends because she can feel the topic in the air – she can see it in the way Sasha and Connie exchange glances with each other and in the way Jean stabs viciously at his greens; there’s a smug little smirk on Christa’s lips and even Armin can’t look her or Eren in the eye. It’s something she knows they want to talk about, but so help her, she might just lose it if they even breathe a word.
Eren, evidently, doesn’t notice, and she death-glares him the most because she’s had a hell of a day and it’s entirely his fault. He may be her only family and she may love him dearly, but the hickey on her neck has caused her far more trouble than it should have and he, apparently, hasn’t even been asked about it once.
No one says anything over dinner though.
No one says anything at all, actually.
They eat. They finish. They help each other clear the table and take care of the dishes. The others head to bed.
By around ten o’clock that night, Levi and Eren and Mikasa are the only ones left in the living room of the cabin. Levi is still at the table, looking over paperwork from his meeting with Commander Erwin and Squad Leader Hanji.
Eren is tossing bits of paper into the fire.
Mikasa is curled on the couch, keeping an eye on him.
It’s silent, apart from the crackle of twigs in the fireplace and the rustle of documents from the dining area, before, at last, Eren gets to his feet.
“I’m going to bed,” he announces.
“Good for you,” deadpans Levi, eyes fixed on his papers.
Eren shrugs and jerks his head at Mikasa. “You should sleep too.”
“Yeah,” she mumbles. She heaves a sigh and stands too.
They almost make it out of the room, and Mikasa thinks that today and all its troubles might finally be over when, suddenly, Levi snorts.
“Don’t think I didn’t see that bruise on your neck, Ackerman,” he says. “You brats had better not be fucking in my cabin.”
There’s a burst of giggling from the rooms down the hall, and Mikasa wonders if her squad has always consisted of a bunch of five year olds. She glances at Eren.
He grins sheepishly. “Whoops?”
She scowls. Whoops indeed.
1) Sometimes I’ll do this thing where I start on a prompt at like 11 o’clock at night and won’t finish til well past midnight, so I’m sorry if this is gross.
2) To: ships-that-fly: I’m sorry it took forever
