Rogue

Curiosity and Chaos

"Rogue?"

He froze at his name being innocently spoken, blood running cold through his hot veins. Rogue shut his eyes in aggravation, softly cursing himself with a small growl. Just his damn luck. The titan let out a sigh, turning to see that both his little ones were sitting upright in his leafy nest with their awakening eyes upon him in question. Guilt then washed over Rogue once again as the tips of his tapered ears traditionally turned red.

"Rogue?" Armin began, his tone showing obvious worry. "What are you doing? Are you okay?"

The titan dithered, looking at the tops of his knees fretfully, knowing he had backed himself into a corner. Finally, he gave a tired grin and performed a few meaningless hand gestures, grunting to get his point across and hoping his odd quirk wasn't giving him away.

The blonde tilted his head at the titan's explanation, to Rogue's better favor he looked confused. "Why - are you sitting outside the tree?"

Rogue huffed and teasingly extended his legs before him, flexing his feet to show that he just needed a stretch. The titan purred a bit, trying to coax his little ones to believe a lie, to his relief Armin began to consider the fact - but Mikasa's distrusting eyes were ever telling. The girl then sighed.

"I know you're lying Rogue." His little one began, forcing the titan to freeze with fear. "Carla told me about your little habit with your ears and how they turn red when you're fibbing. "Now, were you - trying to sneak away to hunt food for us?"

Rogue cursed himself again with another low and short growl. His plan had completely backfired on him. After instinctively running his fingers through his hair in shame, Rogue nodded sheepishly in return, eyes fixed to the ground. He couldn't bring it upon himself to look at them. He simply sat like a misbehaved puppy, waiting to be scolded.

"Rogue, you don't need to worry about us. You're a big titan." Mikasa continued, stern but nice enough to get a point across without sounding irritated. "In fact, you're strong - you tore the titan that killed Carla and Grisha to shreds. With you leading the way with Armin and I in tow, we're very safe."

For a moment, Rogue silently panicked. His little ones only knew about his slaughter of the smiling one - not the genocide he performed upon the others almost every day. If he could count the kills, he would lose count. Ever since that day, Mikasa had seemingly adopted his human's motherly instinct. Although she was understanding and nurtured him to the fullest extent, his little one was overbearing at times and concerned of his whereabouts and well-being. Rogue only knew that it was because she cared for him greatly just as Carla did, but due to her protectiveness - it was one of the main reasons as to why Rogue never indicated what he carried out on his hunts.

The titan moaned a bit in a mixture of disagreement and aggravation. There was no way out of this predicament. Even if he told them to stay they would only insist and if he just walked away he would face their angry human tongue later. Rogue then sighed, finally nodding his head meekly in agreement.

"Good. Now as another way to persuade your stubborn disposition, if you remember, Armin and I will be sitting on your shoulder the whole time opposed to walking on the ground. We'll be right with you! How does that sound?"

Rogue dithered once again, still not completely sure if their plan was sound and without holes. But he just knew that there was no escape. No point in arguing. Finally, he purred in likeness - the only act of reassuring that seemed good enough. The titan watched as his little ones put on smiles at his answer, making a knot grow in his chest.

"Fine then, it's settled." Armin began as he carefully climbed from the nest after Mikasa. "The two of us will get dressed, gather some water, and then we can head out. Just wait here and give us a minute."