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Mikasa looked through the small glass window moments before pressing her ear against it, trying to listen to her baby brother’s crying from inside the room. Her mother had given birth only an hour ago with the assistance of Doctor Jaeger and Mrs. Jaeger as her midwife. Mikasa was left in the room down the hallway to play with their son, a boy around her age.
She could see a small squirming creature in her father’s arms, the baby adorned with the same dirty blond hair as him. She stood on her tippy toes, trying to get more sight of the situation at hand. Mikasa was totally overjoyed to meet her new brother. She wanted to know his name, wanted to play dolls with him and sing him nursery rhymes. Eren, her new friend, seemed less excited.
Eren tugged at her sleeve, urging her to go back to her bedroom. He had a bored expression on his face, clearly too immature to understand the gravity and excitement of the situation.
“Cmon Mikasa – Let’s go back to your room. I wanna play with your knights” He stubbornly whined, only briefly peering into the same window as Mikasa to see what was so interesting.
“Ew, why are you even looking at that? It’s all bloody and slimy. Dad said we can’t leave your room till he calls us.” Eren crumples his nose up with disgust, giving Mikasa’s sleeve a harder tug. She sighed, standing back onto her two feet before following Eren back inside.
“How do you know that? You didn’t even see him come out of mommy’s tummy” Mikasa replied as they entered the room.
“I know what it looks like, I saw it in one of dad’s medical books. The baby comes out like a freaking slimy parasite , all white and sticky.”
“Comes out where? Her tummy?” Mikasa asked with a cock to her head, sitting beside Eren on the carpet.
“I think dad cuts a hole underneath her tummy. That’s how the baby gets out. I saw it in pictures—it kinda just slithers out.” Eren said with full nonchalance, leaning back against one arm. He clearly wanted to leave an impression – wanted Mikasa find him ‘cool’. In truth, he himself didn’t really know what he was talking about.
“The stork puts the baby in the mother’s tummy and then dad cuts the baby out.” Eren continued with confidence, reveling in Mikasa’s confusion.
“How did mommy survive getting cut? It must’ve hurt, that’s probably why she was screaming so much!” Mikasa said with worry, clutching the plush she was holding as her head turned back to the closed door down the hallway.
“The stork sprinkles it’s magical powers over your mom so she doesn’t die – obviously ” Eren replied as he rolled his eyes. “Don’t look back there, it’ll make you upset. C’mon, I wanna play.” Eren huffed with a frown, wanting her attention back on him.
Mikasa turned back to her new friend, shifting closer. “What’re we playing?”
“I’m the knight, you’re the princess.” Eren already grabbed one of the toys.
“I don’t wanna be the princess, can I be the dragon?”
“Why would you want to be the dragon? That’s the bad guy. Besides, If I’m the knight and you’re the dragon, who’s gonna get saved?” Eren questioned with confusion and a hint of frustration.
“The dragon doesn’t have to be the bad guy, we can change the story. I don’t want to be the princess because the princess doesn’t do anything!” Mikasa argued, already taking a hold of the dragon toy. Eren snatched the dragon toy out of Mikasa’s hand.
“But I wanna save someone! Who am I supposed to save, the dragon?”
“Yeah? What’s so wrong about that?” Mikasa took her dragon toy back.
“I want to save someone! The dragon can save itself!! Why’re you being so difficult?” Eren’s voice got louder, his signature scowl adorning his face.
“ I’m not being difficult, can’t the dragon and the prince be friends?” Mikasa’s own voice got a bit louder too, not with anger but with confusion.
“No, that's stupid! Are you dumb? The dragon and the prince can’t be friends because the dragon kidnapped the princess, that’s why you are going to play the princess!” Eren proclaimed angrily, swinging his arms around as he tried to prove his point. “Y’know what? I don’t even wanna play with you anymore!”
Eren got up and stormed out of the room. Mikasa didn’t understand why he got so worked up over a simple game. They could have played something else. She stared at the door he had just slammed behind him, then let her eyes fall to the floor. A strange guilt tugged at her chest. Eren was her only friend, maybe she should have tried a little harder to meet him halfway, to care about what he wanted too.
The small raven-haired girl got up and approached the hallway, finding Eren had decided to sulk outside. She stood still, contemplating for a second before Eren’s mother, Mrs. Jaeger approached her.
“Honey, why’re you not in your room? Where’s Eren?” Carla glanced at the little girl, then out at her son. It didn’t take much to piece together what had unfolded. She sighed, crouching down to be at eye-level to Mikasa.
“Tell me what happened, did he get in another fight again? That damn boy can’t keep himself out of conflict, can he?” She muttered that last part to herself before placing a hand on Mikasa’s shoulder.
“He didn’t hurt you, did he? He knows what he’ll get if I ever catch him hitting girls, especially his friends.” The undertone of sternness in Carla’s voice frightened the raven-haired girl. She didn’t want Eren to get punished, so she didn’t say anything. She just shook her head.
“It’s nothing, just a small disagreement.” She said as politely as she could, trying to soften Carla’s brooding anger.
“Are you sure it’s nothing, sweetheart? He sure does seem to be pouting.” The switch to a more playful tone in Carla’s voice encouraged Mikasa to elaborate.
“He wanted me to play the princess, but I wanted to be the dragon. I don’t know why he got so upset over that…” Mikasa finally explained, fidgeting with her hands.
Carla got up, sighing again. “I’ll handle it sweetheart, why don’t you go check up on your mom?” The mention of Mikasa’s mother made her light up again, excitement flooding back into her expression. She gave Mrs. Jaeger a court nod before running towards the room that her mother had given birth in.
The older raven-haired woman sat in bed, an exhausted but content look on her face. Mikasa sprinted over to her side, leaning her arms on the mattress. She tried finding any hint of pain on her mother’s expression but found none, causing her to break out in a giddy smile.
“Where is he? Can I see him?” Mikasa said in a chipper voice, rocking back and forth against the bed she was leaning against. Her mother gently cocked her head toward Mikasa’s father, who sat not far off in a rocking chair, cradling a small, snoozing bundle in his arms. Mikasa’s eyes widened even more with glee as she approached her father. She covered her mouth with her small hands to stifle her giggles, standing on her tiptoes to peer over the folds of blanket her baby brother was wrapped in, until she finally spotted his tiny face.
The little girl let out a small muffled gasp at the sight of his cute cheeks, his eyes shut in his slumber. She looked up at her father, asking in a whispery tone.
“Can I touch him?”
Mikasa’s father chuckled softly, nodding. He shifted a bit so he could hand Mikasa the baby. The small raven-haired girl awkwardly held her arms out, not really knowing what to expect. The older, dirty blond-haired man gently placed the baby in her arms and manually curled Mikasa’s arms around her new baby brother. Once given a nod of assurance, Mikasa tightened her small arms around the even smaller child, holding him close to her chest.
The little girl’s cheeks lit up to a soft pink colour, her elation fluttering back up. She felt the urge to protect the baby in her arms, to keep him safe from danger she herself didn’t even know yet.
A few sweet moments later, the infant softly stirred awake with a small cry, wriggling in the confinement of his blanket. Mikasa handed her baby brother back over to her father, who had already stood up to check on his son.
“I’ll put him to bed, he seems tired. I’ll be back in a minute, alright sweetpea?”
With a gentle kiss to Mikasa’s forehead, her father stepped out to settle his son for the night. The little girl moved back to her mother’s bed, sitting on the edge of it. Mikasa rested her head against one of the many pillows, kicking her feet that were dangling from the edge of the bed. The peaceful moment of silence quickly ended by the approaching sound of Mrs. Jaeger reprimanding her son as she dragged him towards the bedroom.
Carla shushed her whining, stubborn boy as they finally stood in front of the door, giving his hand an extra stern squeeze to make sure he’d get the message. A second later, she opened the door, a sweet smile on her face that contrasted her earlier angry tone. Eren remained rooted in place, refusing to enter the room. His eyes were fixed on the ground in silent defiance until his mother yanked him inside, prompting him to grumble under his breath as he shot her a glare. Carla returned the look with one of her own.
“Eren is here to tell Mikasa something, right Eren?”
Eren’s eyebrows furrowed more at his mother’s words. He gritted his teeth, turning his sight to the Ackerman family. He caught sight of Mikasa, and for a moment, his defiance didn’t feel so certain anymore. He regained his composure just as quickly as he lost it, though his strong frown never returned. The little boy clenched his fist, he looked back up at his mother who gave him an urging look before he looked back at the girl in front of him. He let out a defeated sigh.
“I’m sorry for calling you dumb and I’m sorry for not hearing you out and…uhm…” Eren’s voice died down as he looked up at his mother. She gave him a cold look that made him finish the sentence like they had agreed to. He’d rather apologise once than meet his mother’s wrath.
“I shouldn’t have said all those mean things… it was dumb. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again, I promise. Can we be friends again? You can be the dragon this time if you want.” Eren shifted in his position, fidgeting a bit.
Mikasa was dumbfounded. In all the visits she’s had from Eren, she’d never seen him this coy. She could hear a chuckle from her mother, which made her cheeks flare up. She hesitated for a second before nodding shyly.
“Yeah, sure…we can be friends again.” Mikasa said in a softer tone, getting off the bed to approach Eren. Eren let his mother’s hand go, grabbing Mikasa’s instead.
“Let’s get outta here before mom starts dragging it” He whispers to her, dragging the raven-haired girl out the room. Mikasa followed her friend without protest.
If having arguments like this every now and then meant she got to have a friend like Eren, she’d gladly go through it a million times more.