The midterm holidays are finally here after all the build up. Exams? Done. Cup game? We got there in the end. Now, it's time for the students to enjoy themselves and recharge over the week break so they can do it all again when they get back. The sun is out and a slight cool breeze accompanies it. The gang have agreed to meet at the mall today to grab a few things before their trip and hang out. Eren and Armin, embracing the summer fashion of T-shirts and shorts, are taking a slight detour to go pick up Mikasa from the Ackerman Café. Her early shift should be coming to an end soon. "So, remind me how long we will be gone again?" Eren asks.
"Two days, one night. We leave early Saturday morning and come back Sunday evening." Armin sips some water. "This way Mikasa can help out at her shop and you can do this secret project of yours." The two boys turn onto the main street and the café comes into view. From first inspection, it looks quite busy and the closer they get the busier it looks. They eventually make their way into the shop and a clutter of people surround the space in front of them.
"Oh, hey guys," Mikasa calls from behind the counter. Her hands full as she dances past tables to give the orders to the right customers.
"Looks like you've got your hands full," Eren points out stating the obvious. He nudges Armin with his elbow and they give each other a nod.
"Well, you aren't the only one with fancy footwork, Mr Yeager." Mikasa looks back towards her friends but they aren't by the front entrance anymore. In fact, they seem to be making their way towards the back of the shop. Eren heading towards the kitchen and Armin the service window. "Uh, what are you guys doing?"
Armin smiles brightly. "Helping of course."
Similar activities take place in the kitchen. Only, Eren sneaks up on Mrs Ackerman and, after dodging a swinging ladle, he explains that he is here to help.
"Oh." She lowers the ladle. "Hehe, you don't have to dear. You have plans from what I hear so you should go do that. I can't ask this of you." Mrs Ackerman says as she turns her attention back to the bubbling, aromatic soup.
"Course you can, Mrs Ackerman. You help my mom when work gets on top of her so this is the least we can do." Eren grabs a white apron of the hook and washes his hands.
"We?"
"Armin's out front helping Mikasa."
The orders get out at a more steady pace. Mrs Ackerman shows Eren the basics of prepping the food and he grasps it enough pretty quickly. This allows Mrs Ackerman to focus on the hot beverages. In between her brewing, Mrs Ackerman watches over Eren's shoulder. She's used to doing this since it is usually Mikasa in the kitchen with her and she was prone to needing a few reminders of how things should be served and prepared. This isn't the case with Eren, however, and Mrs Ackerman is left impressed.
An hour or so later, the large volume of people finally seems to be dying down. The number of orders ease and the workload becomes far more manageable. Mrs Ackerman and Eren quickly finish the remaining orders before heading to the shop front.
"Thanks a bunch, kids. Without your help, this could have got a lot messier." Mrs Ackerman thanks the trio and brew them complimentary drinks. They sit and chat, serving the occasional customer that comes in. Suddenly, Mikasa's, Armin's and Eren's phones all buzz.
"Oh shoot. It's from Sasha. They are all at the mall already and waiting for us," Mikasa says.
"You three should run along. I've kept you far too long and Mikasa's uncle will be here soon enough to help."
The boys look at Mrs Ackerman confused. "Levi? This whole customer service thing doesn't seem like his, well, cup of tea," Eren says. Mrs Ackerman chuckles before explaining to them that Levi is a man of many talents. They all finish their drinks. Refreshed and warmed. Mrs Ackerman ushers them out and sends them on their way to the mall.
The walk there isn't too long but long enough for the three of them to decide to make a quick pit stop along the way to grab some Ice cream. They are already late so what's the rush? Might as well make being late worth it.
"Where the hell are they?!" Connie yells. The gang are still waiting in the outside heat. The temperature has picked up since the last time we checked in with it and the cool breeze is far less frequent. Connie and Sasha decide enough is enough. They make their way over to Christa, their eyes locking in on her electric hand fan. Her beautiful, wind blowing, cool breeze producing, hand fan. They fight for the space behind her trying to catch the stray gusts of wind. Unfortunately, that space already has a champion. Ymir pushes them both away and takes what she refers to as her rightful place by the queen's side.
"Beat it, losers," Ymir says before resting her chin on Christa's shoulder. The cool wind from the fan blowing her hair away from her face.
"Not fair, Ymir! We're dying here!" Sasha cries out.
"If you can't handle the heat, the mall has AC inside," Annie says. They all look at each other. Wait. This is stupid. They all have the same thought, no one saying anything. Instead, they start making their way inside.
"Not all of us. Someone needs to stay outside for Mikasa and the other two since we told them to meet us outside," Jean says stopping Sasha and Connie. Their shoulders sinking. Ymir walks behind Jean and pats him on the back.
"And that makes three. Thanks for volunteering guys," Ymir chuckles before quickly catching up to the others.
A few minutes pass. Connie is sat on the concrete floor cross legged with Sasha sat on his slouched upper back playing games on her phone. Jean is a few paces away taking a phone call. "Okay, yeah. It is pretty good," a familiar voice says. The dynamic duo looks towards where they heard the voice come from and spot Eren, handing Mikasa an ice cream cone, with Armin by their side.
"Finally!" Connie stands up causing Sasha to nearly hit the deck. She quickly catches herself and, after a bit of juggling, her phone too. "Took you guys long enough."
"Hehe, sorry. We got caught up at the café," Mikasa says. She explains how the café was hit with a surprise swarm that kept them held back way longer than they originally thought. They gloss over the part where they decided to get ice cream to avoid explaining more. Mainly why they didn't grab some for the two.
"There's a whole lot of cops here," Eren says. The five of them look around and, now that they are looking out for them, they spot a dozen or so officers in uniform. Mikasa recognises a few more, thanks to her dad's at home meetings, that are dressed in normal clothing. They blend right into the thick crowds. It's hard to say an exact number of how many there actually are.
"huh, we never actually noticed that."
"Oh yeah, my dad told me about this. Apparently, security everywhere is going to be on the up because of an increase in activity from those guys in masks," Mikasa says. Eren scans the surrounding area. He feels police gazes on his nape. It tingles his skin yet burns it. He checks over his shoulder.
"Oh, hi mini Yeager!" a short woman with long, dishevelled black hair that comes roughly shoulder length says. She is dressed in a simple white shirt and a long beige skirt that reaches her ankles. Black boots completing her simple yet effective outfit. She stumbles slightly but Eren catches her. "Sorry, still getting used to walking on just two again," she smiles.
"Hurry up, Pieck! He's waiting for us!" the gang and the mystery women look over to where their attention is loudly dragged towards. They spot a man. It's hard to make out any of his distinguishing features besides his blond, combed back, undercut.
"Well, I have places to be. See you around, Titan," the lady winks at Eren and waves him goodbye. They all watch her leave and once she is far enough away (hopefully) they turn their attention back to Eren.
"Who was she?" Jean asks. He pockets his phone and returns to the group.
"Yeah, and is she single?" Connie follows up with prompting Sasha to quickly follow up with something of her own. A swift flick to his ear. "What? She's cute. You agree with me, right E-man?"
"Uhhh, yeah sure, I guess so," Eren replies. He wipes his brow and starts fanning himself. "I dunno, ask Jean."
"Alright then," Connie turns. "Jean, you defo think she was cute too, right?" Connie asks Jean simply doing as he was asked to do. Jean shrugs his shoulders giving Connie another undecisive answer. Jean and Eren both look towards Mikasa through the corners of their eyes to see her reaction and she seems indifferent. Her nails more interesting to her than the boy's conversation.
"Guys, can we go inside now? Melting over here," Armin says. They head in towards the mall, Eren slyly scanning his surroundings. He's trying to spot the nearest officers while attempting to avoid them all together yet he can't get the mystery woman off her mind.
They are hit with a rush of some much needed cool air as soon as they step into the mall. Sasha can Connie praise the AC unit like it is some sort of deity. It doesn't take them long to find the others who headed inside earlier. They are outside a clothes shop and they are easy to spot thanks to a mountain of bags. Actually, on a closer look everyone's hands are filled with either a cold drink or shopping bags. Christa and Ymir's the freest but when you look towards Reiner, who is just behind them, well, there is no way they are all his. Surely. "You need some help with that?" Eren asks.
"Nope, I'm, uh, fine. Besides, we were just about to head out to wait for you guys anyway but since you are here we can move on," Reiner replies.
"Fair enough. Girls, lead the way." The gang get on the move once again only now as the full group. Christa and Ymir lead the way with Mikasa, Sasha and Annie tagging along just behind. Jean, Connie, Armin and Berthold also start to follow forming a line at the back of the pack. Eren is about to follow but Reiner blocks him off. They watch the others leave, Reiner waiting for them to leave listening distance.
"take half."
"I thought you were fine, big guy?" Eren smugly says.
"I was trying to impress Christa. If anyone asks, you insisted I gave you some of the bags, okay?" Eren agrees with Reiner and takes half. Relief finally hits Reiners muscles as he takes a quick second to stretch them out. It's only a quick second because when they look back to where their friends went, they are getting further and further away.
"Crap," they both say in unison.
"So, now that we are all finally here and these two are done with their 'quick' glance around, what do we all need?" Annie asks. Eren and Reiner quickly sneak towards the back of the group and attempt to blend in like they were always there.
"Well, I haven't got anything," Sasha says.
"Me neither," Connie adds.
"Leaving it last minute, huh. Seems on brand," Annie says. She sticks her hand out and Berthold begrudgingly puts some cash down.
"At least I've got the transport sorted. I was on the phone to them before and it's all sorted. Just gotta go pick it up," Jean says. Okay so. They come up with the plan of splitting up. Those who need to get a lot of stuff can go and do just that while those who only need an item or two, once they obviously get said item or two, will be in charge of finding a place to eat. Divide and conquer. That sort of thing.
This leaves the split Connie, Eren, Sasha and Ymir as team Last Minute. The rest of them split off even further and set off to grab the last few things they need with everyone agreeing to meet up within the hour. They also left team Last Minute with no more than two hours to get everything since a lot of them are feeling hungry.
"Okay, so. What do we need to get?" Ymir asks.
"Uhhhh," Connie and Sasha glance at each other before looking back towards Ymir. "We were hoping you would know."
"What, why me? Surely if any one of us would know it's you, Sasha."
"I mean, going camping with my dad and going lodging with you guys are two very different things," Sasha says. She thinks for a short second before her eyes light up. "Although, I'm sure a lot of it would carry over."
"you just said-" Stomp! Sasha crashes her foot down on Connies taking his mind firmly off what he was saying and down to his aching foot. Ymir watches this play out with a raised brow and a suspicious posture. This isn't her first rodeo with these two. She looks towards Eren. His gaze turned away and his attention seems distant. Looking around like he is looking for something or someone.
"Yo, Yeager!" Ymir yells while waving a hand in front of his face. "You looking for lovely Mikasa?" She asks. A cheeky grin on her face.
"Her being here would be helpful actually," Eren replies. He doesn't look at Ymir. Instead, keeping his sly gaze on a large group that he swears was giving him weird looks.
"Right, well, what did you think of what Sasha said?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever," Eren replies.
"Great. Lead the way Potato girl," Ymir says. She grabs Eren's arm and drags him along while following Sasha and Connie. She doesn't drag him for long, Eren breaking her grip, but at least he is now paying some attention to more immediate things. Ymir bluntly asks Eren what was he looking for but Eren lies saying he wasn't looking for anything.
"I bet he was tryna find that hottie from before," Connie laughs. Sasha slaps the back of his head again but Connie continues to giggle to himself.
Eventually, they arrive outside an outdoorsy equipment shop that should sell everything that they would need. It isn't too busy but there are still a handful or so of people browsing inside. "Okay, this place should do the trick. You should get most of what we need here. Connie and I are gonna grab the rest okay bye!" and just like that Sasha runs off dragging Connie along with her.
"Welp, looks like it's just us two, Yeager. Hope you brought some cash," Ymir says. The two of them walk in and when they realise they don't know where to start, pull up a list on their phones labelled 'top essential camping gear'. "Well, the first things a tent but we won't need that since money man Jeans paid for a cabin."
"How bout we work our way through this list ignoring the things we agree we won't need?"
"Sounds solid. Let's do it."
Meanwhile, in a very different kind of shop on the other side of the mall, Sasha leads Connie into a shop. "Why have you brought us here?" Connie asks.
"Dude, we are gonna be alone in a cabin in some woods."
Connie's confused face curls into an evil, wide-stretching, grin. "You're a genius."
"I know."
The two hours quickly pass by and Eren and Ymir join back with the main group. Their hands filled with their newly acquired possessions. Admittedly, and as pointed out by a few of the gang, a lot of it isn't needed. Connie and Sasha arrive not too long after but still late and despite plenty of asking, they refuse to show anyone what they bought. Instead diverting the conversation to food.
For their meal, they head to a pizza place. Easier to feed everyone. Of course, Reiner, Sasha and Connie get one full pizza to themselves but the rest order three different styles between them. "Remember, 6 o'clock. No one be late." Jean says before taking a bite out of his cheesy pizza.
"Who's doing the pick-up rounds anyway?" Ymir asks. She passes Eren his new cap from one of their shopping bags, the German flag printed in the front of the black cap, so that he doesn't forget it with her.
"Me since I am the one with the transport. Picking it up after we are done here," Jean replies. He goes over the details one last time. Jean's going to pick Mikasa and Eren up first at 5:30ish and then work his way around to picking up the others. "Remember guys. Do not be late."