To Love a Criminal ((MIKE ZACHARIAS X OC))

Chapter 5

The sun shining in through the propped open window stirred a restlessly slumbering Silica, who laid on her stomach with her dark hair in a tousled mess.

With a curt yawn, she pushed herself up from the not-exactly-comfortable-but-better-than-nothing mattress and stretched her arms over her head. She basked in the cool air pooling into the room as she sat upright in bed with the duvet hanging halfway off her body, revealing her disheveled top and bare abdomen.

After blinking the sleep away from her eyes, Silica caught something in her peripheral vision. Kicking the covers away, Silica was swiftly on her feet and approaching the quaint dresser against the adjacent wall, where a stack of clothing rested on the dark wood surface. She examined them for a moment, and once she was fully conscious, she realized that it was her Survey Corps uniform.

She frowned begrudgingly at the thought of that day's activities, but hurriedly dressed herself anyway after remembering that she was supposed to be meeting Mike in the mess hall soon.

Patting down her naturally unkempt hair, Silica hastily waltzed through the now buzzing courtyard, paying little to no mind to the few stares she received as she attempted to navigate the base — by herself.

After fifteen minutes of walking in circles, Silica had finally managed to seek out the place she was looking for and strode in through the open double doors. The hall was swarming with soldiers, whom either zipped in and out or grabbed their food and took a seat at the bench tables lining the room. She panned her still tired gaze around, and after a curt moment, pinpointed Mike's head of sandy hair.

She approached him groggily and plopped down in the seat he had clearly been saving for her before leaning forward on her arms.

"Thought you said you were used to hangovers?" Mike ridiculed amusedly, sliding a mug of what she guessed was coffee in her direction. She took it gingerly and sniffed it.

"I am," she deadpanned gravely. "It's the bed that I'm not used to."

"Are beds better underground?" Mike asked with little interest.

"No," said Silica. "Sleeping in general isn't really my cup 'o tea."

"Gotcha," Mike mused, pushing himself to his feet once Silica had finished downing her drink. "Shadis is expecting you and Hange is probably clambering around base looking for you."

Silica shrugged in little interest and followed Mike out of the mess hall, longing to stay in order to avoid being harped with questions. She got enough of that from Erwin as it was.

"There you are!" The familiar, squawky voice of Hange rang in Silica's hypersensitive ears as they walked down the gravel path toward the main building. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

"Clearly." Silica observed bluntly, clearly not amused and all too irritated at the sudden headache this lady provided.

"The Commander expected you to be at his office twenty minutes ago," Hange shrieked a laugh to ease her own worry whilst latching onto Silica's forearm. "There's no time to waste."

Silica noticed the frown-y pout Hange shot toward Mike before tugging her further down the path.

"You did that on purpose." Hange accused the tall man, who merely sniffed the air and shrugged.

"You're the one with the crush on him," Mike stated, succeeding in confusing Silica to a 't.' "It's not my fault you're OCD about it."

"Mike!" Hange reprimanded. A deep blush formed on her cheeks.

"Uh," Silica rolled her eyes. "Shall we?"

Hange made an 'oop' sound before hurriedly dragging the new recruit the rest of the way to Commander Shadis' office without so much as a glance in Mike's direction.