"Sasha! Connie!", you ran up to them the second you spotted them inside the stables. They must have gotten back right before you, Marco and Jean did. They turned around at the sound of your voice, revealing two grinning faces. You pulled them both into a tight embrace, overjoyed to see them again. Although its only been a week, its been a long time since you had been away from your friends for longer than a day.
"You're back!", you heard Eren's voice say happy from the entrance to the stables. The trio had stayed at HQ since there weren't really anyone left for them to visit sadly. As they joined the rest of you inside you felt as though a sense of peace settled inside of you. They were all here with you again.
"How was you guys' week?", Armin asked while you walked towards mess hall where dinner would be served in a little bit.
"Amazing! Mom made a different dish each day, and we even had something I've never even tased before!", Sasha exclaimed eagerly, and you could almost see the drool running down from the corner of her mouth as she pictured whatever deliciousness her mom served. "Right Connie?"
Connie hastily nodded in agreeance, matching Sasha's energy. "We even went hunting! I caught a rabbit with my bare hands!", he added with a sly smile, eyeing the rest of your from the corner of his eyes while his hands were propped on his hips. You could swear his chest was a little puffed out as well. Sasha laughed.
"If with 'caught it with your bare hands' you mean 'tripping on an ant farm falling on top of an unsuspecting rabbit you didn't even know was there', then yes Connie. You caught it with your bare hands", she hollered, the rest of you joining in on her laughter at Connie's expense.
"I knew it was there, and I didn't tri-... Hmpf, whatever", he retorted, but giving in mid-sentence with a scoff. Marco put his arm around his shoulders.
"I'm sure you did bud"
"What about you Jean, how was your week?", Armin directed the subject away from Connie.
"It was nice I guess. Mom and dad dragged me from one relative to the next and I had to tell the same stories over and over again, but I won't complain too much. It's not often I get to see them". You were happy Jean seemed to be more comfortable showing his caring side when it comes to his family in comparison to previous years. Though he acted nonchalant about it, you could see he really enjoyed his time back in Trost. "You two saved me from having to do the laundry though, I owe you for that one. Don't get me wrong, I'm used to chores, but if I had to wash and hang up one more article of women's undergarments for all my neighbours to see, I would have simply perished", he sighed beat down with his face in his hand. The lot of you snickered. You and Marco had arrived in Trost to pick up Jean on the way back, stopping by his house for a lunch break. It was nice to talk with his mom again and finally be able to properly meet his dad.
You noticed Armin looking at you and Marco with a questioning look, silently asking you the same question he had asked the others.
"Well, our week was wonderful. His mom has the kindest soul; once you meet her you will never question how Marco turned out to be the way he is", you said with a sweet smile, slightly nudging Marco in his side as you addressed him. He gave you a sheepish smile.
"Come to think of it, I had never heard of Jinae before I met you Marco. How's it like?", Eren asked curious. Marco looked over to you with his brows raised. He wanted to hear your answer.
"It is such a lovely town! A lot like Connie's but a bit bigger, with cobblestone roads and the houses were closer together. They have this charming market in the middle of the village. I loved walking through it each morning just taking in all the fresh smells from the food stands", you explained with sparkling eyes. "Oh and not to mention the surroundings! It made me wish Shiganshina had that fresh of a nature surrounding it that you could smell it from the midst of the town square, instead of breathing in dust from the dirt roads all day", you added with a slight laugh, making Eren, Armin and Mikasa smile a bit.
You had reached mess hall, all collecting a tray of food before getting seated by your usual table. "Oh! Before I forget!", Armin reached down to get the content out of a bag he was carrying, the rest looking at Marco with an expecting look. Sasha and Connie looked about ready to explode, the way their mouths were contorted physically showing that they were trying their absolute best not to reveal anything. "Happy belated 18th birthday Marco!", he said with a wide smile handing him a book from across the table. "Happy 18th! We love you!", Sasha and Connie finally broke their silence, yelling out their congratulations while simultaneously standing up with their arms reaching for the ceiling. They loved birthdays. For yours they had picked you up and went to stand on top of your table. Then proceeding to rial up everyone in the hall to sing you happy birthday. It was one of the most embarrassing moments of your life, but the smiles on their faces made it more bearable at least.
The book was the latest one of a series Marco really enjoyed reading. He had been excited for the next release for ages now, and it was evident in his bright expression just how touched he was by this gesture. "We all chipped in once we heard the next book came out!". The rest of you smiled at him, awaiting his response.
"Oh, you guys didn't have to do that for me. But thank you, I love it", he said, looking at each and every one of you with an appreciative smile.
"You're important to us Marco, it's the least we can do for such a special day!", Eren reassured him confidently with a voice full of warmth. Marco examined the book clutched in his hands before nodding at him with a grateful look.
~
Another week had past in a whim, the preparations for the retaking of Wall Maria taking up a lot of your time. A vast amount of soldiers from other regiments had enlisted over to the Survey Corps after the whole Coup d'état situation, them being trained relentlessly the past month to be up to the survey corps' standards before you ventured out to Wall Maria. This week you heard from Hange that a last-minute group of soldiers were to join you from the military. You wondered if they would even have enough time to catch up to the rest that had been training for weeks on end, but trusted Erwin's decision to let them join. God knows you needed the numbers.
"And that's when I told Hange we should consider switching the colour of our pants to black rather than white", you told Mikasa and Sasha as you made your way to dinner.
"Right, like who thought it was a good idea to make them white? They get dirty the second we walk outside", Sasha agreed, opening the doors.
"It only took me one step onto the dirt ground of the training grounds for my pants to be covered in a thick layer of dust, and you guys know I'm light on my feet", Mikasa shot in. You snickered, about to comment something when you noticed a certain someone sitting by your table, already deep in conversation with the rest of the boys.
"Ooh, who's this?", Sasha thought out loud while the three of you walked over to get your trays from the serving station. Mikasa looked ready to attack when the last person you had ever expected to see here at the Scout HQ put their hand on Eren's shoulder while laughing excessively to whatever he just said.
'Okay, no way Eren was that funny'
"Mabel?", you half greeted, half asked once the three of you reached the table. She looked up at you with doe-eyes, batting her eyelashes like she was surprised.
"Y/N? Oh how great to finally see you again", she plastered a grin on her face, putting on her sweetest tone as she addressed you.
"Yeah, uh, what are you doing here? Last-minute enrollment?". Her sitting where she sat as well as Marlo recently joining your clique threw the seating arrangement off, leaving you sandwiched between Mikasa and Armin for the time being. You could feel the intense stare Mikasa had directed towards Mabel without even turning to look at her, as Mabel's hand were still resting on Eren's shoulder.
"Yes! My last encounter with you and Marco back in Jinae really had me re-evaluating my decision", she smiled at Marco.
'Of course it did...'
"I have to spent my time doing what's best for the future of humanity, that's my duty as a soldier". The others, aside from you and Mikasa smiled and nodded in agreement. You didn't do much more than give her a small smile. Who knows, maybe she actually have good intentions? Though the energy you got from her told you something else.
She proceeded to make small talk with the ones seated closest to her, and you decided to pay her no mind, turning to talk to Armin instead.
"Hey, you still want help for combat training?", you took a spoonful of your vegetable soup before looking at him.
"Yeah, sure if you-"
"Armin!", Mabel interrupted your conversation, claiming his full attention. "Have I told you I love your hair? It looks so smooth and well-kept! If you ever need a haircut or something I'll gladly help you out! I've been told I'm the best at it by my comrades, not to toot my own horn though", she giggled. Armin seemed surprised by the sudden compliment.
"Oh, thank you. I'll consider it", he said sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck. She beamed at him before looking up at Eren.
"You too Eren, it seems to be getting a bit on the long side", she said while running her hands through his hair. A sudden clunk noise from your left made you look down at the table and your eyes widened. Mikasa had clutched the spoon in her hands so hard, the handle had snapped in two. Nobody else seemed to notice it though.
'The power this girl right here holds, I swear to God'
"Uh, maybe", was all he said to that, giving her a little smile.
The rest of the meal continued on with her talking about all her accomplishments while acting humble like she was forced to tell them. You don't know how, but she always found an excuse to reach out and touch the guys in some way, it almost became unbearable to watch.
'God I hope she doesn't keep acting like that around the boys every time she's with them, I wanna gag'
If only you knew...
The next few days she was inseparable with the group, always there wherever you went. She would interrupt you anytime you were having a conversation with someone, directing their attention to her. It was annoying as hell, and you could barely ever get a word in. She only did it with you though, leaving Sasha oblivious to whatever scheme she had going on. Mikasa would be oblivious too if Mabel hadn't come on so strong onto Eren.
The most frustrating part was that it seemed as though the rest of the boys were as oblivious as Sasha. Even Marco in a sense. Though he didn't let her touch him as much as the others, he was still as polite to her as ever; and she did not hesitate using that to her advantage whenever you were nearby.
"Oops", she said innocently as she dropped a few gas cannisters one day the three of you where going over supplies for the mission. You stopped and turned around to see what had happened. Marco put down the gears he was carrying to help pick them up. "Thank you Marco, you're so sweet to me", she sneaked a peek over in your direction before looking back down at him. "While you're down there, could you maybe tie the laces of my boot?", she asked while inching her leg closer to his face. Marco got up with a sheepish laugh.
"It's already tied Mabel"
"Oh, really?! God, I'm so stupid sometimes", she giggled while facepalming. You felt your stomach turn and walked away before you said something you might regret. She was testing you, you understood that much. You didn't want to give her the satisfaction of showing her that she was getting to you.
From then on out you tried to be around her as little as possible, meaning you didn't hang around your friends as much as you usually would. Mikasa would join you a lot, but couldn't keep away for too long at a time as she had to keep an eye out for Eren.
You were just about to join the others outside but when you saw her jump up onto Jean's back while laughing like it was the silliest of things, you made a U-turn, stomping over to the one place you knew you could vent out these feelings.
"State you name and-". You didn't even bother letting him finish his sentence, just continuing stomping over to the sofa before you let yourself collapse onto it with a huff. Levi took a good look at you from behind his desk. He looked to be in the middle of some paperwork which kind of made you feel bad for interrupting him. But at the same time you didn't care.
"Who did it?"
"Huh?"
"Which one of those brats hurt you? I swear to god if that Floch guy tried something again-"
"No no, it's not him", you reassured him. Floch was another problem, but not really a big one for the time being. You had only ever interacted with him once, but he acted a bit arrogant on the expense of you and your accomplishments. Levi was close enough to overhear it and it left him with a bad impression of him. "It's just this girl that recently enrolled here. I swear she's trying to push my buttons and steal my friends away from me....", you sighed before listing up examples of her actions. It wasn't like you were jealous she had the guys' attention, you never craved to be the centre of it regardless. But it was the way you knew she did it with the intention of spiting you. You didn't like the way she used the kindness and inclusivity of your friends for her own personal gain.
"You want me to take care of it?", Levi had fully put away his papers, his focus on you the entire time. That sounded tempting, but no. You shouldn't involve him like that. You didn't come here to snitch on Mabel to a higher-up like a bratty child ratting out their sibling to their parent. You came here because Levi was your friend and one of the closest things to a parental figure you had. You needed someone to listen, which he was an expert on.
"No, it's fine-"
"Who are we beating up?", Hange asked eager as she banged the door open. Levi closed his eyes at the sudden commotion, breathing heavily in and out of his nose so he wouldn't immediately jab at her. She lifted your head before plopping down on the sofa, placing your head on top of her lap.
"No one", you snickered, though silently hoping she wouldn't listen to you. "I'm just a teen with teenage problems.. I think". You honestly weren't sure what kind of problem this was, nor how to solve it. Only time would tell. Hopefully, your friends could see through her act soon.
"Well, problems are problems. Just say the word and we'll back you up", she winked at you before looking over at Levi. "Right Shorty?". Levi's emotionless face remained the same. He sighed before looking down at his papers once more.
"Yeah"
You smiled content to yourself.
'God I love those two'
*3rd person POV*
"Hey Marco, did you and Y/N fight or something?", Connie asked him one morning the boys where standing in the corridors to the boys' dormitories. Marco's expression turned stressed.
"No, why? Is she okay?"
"Yeah, I guess, but haven't you noticed how she's been acting lately? Same with Mikasa come to think of it...", Jean said.
"I guess I have, but she told me it was because she was stressed out about the mission?"
"I don't buy that for a second", Eren quickly butted in. "We're all stressed, so that part is probably true, but she's never avoided us because of it..."
Marco didn't know what to believe. Usually he would always know what was bothering you the second it did, or you would tell him, but in this case neither of that happened. He sensed something was wrong, and subconsciously he already knew what, he just didn't know that he knew yet.
As they discussed what could have lead to your sudden lack of presence, Levi walked past them.
"You guys really are dumb", he stated casually, leaving them with baffled expressions.
"Captain?", Jean asked but Levi didn't stop, continuing on his merry way away from them.
"Dumb? Wh- Does he know something? Why does he know and not us?", Connie asked with furrowed brows.
'So Y/N told him what it was, huh...', Marco thought, trying to somehow use it to piece out this mystery.
*Normal POV*
"Hey Y/N", Mabel suddenly slumped down beside you by the table where you were trying to relax and get a few drawings and notes done before bed. It was past dinner, only a few other soldiers choosing to spend their evenings inside the comfort of the dimly lit mess hall. She dragged out your name and the bench shook heavily by the force of her exaggerated seating. There was now a harsh pencil line going straight across the page and it took everything in you not to curse her out.
"Oops, I'm so sorry, here let me help", she reached out for your book, but you moved it slightly away from her in a controlled motion.
"No it's fine, don't worry about it... And you can drop the sugary-sweet tone with me, I don't buy it". You couldn't help but express something to her at least.
Her eyes narrowed slightly, and she let out a small, dry laugh.
"Fine, I guess there's no point in pretending", and just like the flip of a switch her smiling expression was replaced with an unimpressed one. "I'm going to be honest, I don't like you'
You huffed slightly. "Figured as much. I just don't really get why".
"Because you're a taker Y/N. You take things that's not your to take. It's unfair!"
Your brows furrowed. This girl really made up your whole personality, traits and all, after barely meeting you once.
"So I decided to make sure you knew how it felt for someone to swoop in out of nowhere and take the people closest to you away from you. Marco and I shared a dream! You came in the way of it, I'm sure of it!", her stare was like boring into your soul. You honestly didn't know how to respond to that. You had been nothing but nice to her, resorting to rather keep your mouth shut if you didn't have anything nice to say to her, and staying out of her way. Still this is how she chose to perceive you...
"And you can drop that victim-act you've got going on, it honestly makes my blood boil. 'My parents were killed by the armoured titan and now I'll end him myself without the help of anyone else, because I ranked number to out of ten and I've got a hero complex' ", she imitated your voice, adding a mocking tone to it.
'Ouch'
You couldn't remember ever talking to her about your parents. Quite the contrary to her statement, you couldn't stand listen to yourself talk about your tragic past solely because of the fear of people perceiving you like this. That wasn't you at all.
"H-how-", your voice came out like a sore, weak whisper as you tried to process the turn this evening had taken.
"I think that's quite enough Mabel", you heard Marco's voice say from behind you. The two of you both turned around abruptly to meet the sight of not just Marco, but all you friends as well. Who knows how long they had been standing there. Behind them you noticed Hange winking at you before sha left the hall. You smiled slightly at her.
'She must have noticed Mabel approaching me while I was alone and went to grab the others... She's too clever sometimes'
"Oh, M-marco, you guys-", she said surprised, a small laugh-sigh in between the words to try and defuse the tension that was directed at her.
"I don't think there's much you can say that'll make anything you told her okay", Eren took a step forward with his arms crossed. You could tell he was eager to back you up the way you've backed him throughout the years. It made your heart well up watching your friends gather closer to sort of shield you from her in a way.
"B-but can't you guys see it? You especially Marco! You didn't join the MP's, OUR dream, for her", she motioned her hand towards you. Marco, who had slipped a subtle hand into yours, winced at her words.
"Now listen lady", Connie said lifting his hand with an unimpressed look. "That's not how we do things around here. First of all; Y/N's been realer than most of us here from the start. Second of all; We don't just go around putting others down for our own gain... At least not in a mean-spirited way", he added and looked over at Jean, who responded with an offended yet confused look once he realized Connie meant him and the way he quarrels with Eren over nothing.
"And to think I wasted a piece of my dinner roll on you", Sasha muttered with a frown.
"I think its best if you keep your distance from now on Mabel", Marco said after seemingly calming down a bit.
"But Marco, we-"
"I joined the Survey Corps solely based on my own terms and values. And even if it were only because of her, I would own up to it with pride. Y/N's an amazing person through and through. Mabel, we were friends of sorts, but this is just ridiculous at this point. I don't want you talking to us anymore"
A flash of hurt came across her features before settling into a neutral expression with furrowed brows. She didn't say anything as she turned on her heels and walked out of the hall without even as much as a glance your way.
It was quiet now, no one really knew how to pick it up from here.
"You guys really had no clue?", Levi said disappointed in the middle of your group of friends. They all jumped away from him, startled by his presence as no one noticed him even getting there. He scoffed. "I'm short, not invisible, tch...", he muttered with an eyeroll before walking away.
After witnessing that, you couldn't hold it in, your giggles spreading like wildfire amongst your group. They resorted to sit down at the table with you as the laughter died down.
"But seriously, I'm sorry for not picking up on it sooner. For me, the nature and boundaries of mine and Mabel's relationship were so clear I didn't even consider thinking about what it may have looked like for anyone else...", Marco apologised sincerely while pulling you against him. You smiled.
"I never doubted your intentions... Or any of you guys' for that matter. Yes, I wondered when you guys would pick up on it, but the worst thing about it for me was the way she was using you. You guys are not just pawns in someone's game". Their expressions softened even more by this.
"Hey, we love you. Next time we're that dense, just talk to us", Jean said with an assuring smirk and the rest nodded accordingly.
It finally felt like you could breathe again after walking around for days feeling like you were drowning slowly.
___________________________________
A/N:
Hey! Sorry for taking a bit long to update... Work has been a lot lately and I barely get enough sleep; not leaving much room for any writing-motivation. But the most intense weeks will soon be over, and I'll do my damn hardest to keep the updates regular! : )
Also, I don't know if the content of this chapter came kind of out of nowhere for you guys, but I swear this was something I planned to happen quite long ago hahah. I don't quite know how I feel about it or if it was a bit rushed, but it's not bad enough to just scratch and forget about I think : )
So I hope you enjoyed it and thanks so so much for 5k total reads. We're already almost at 6k, which is unbelievable to me!<3 I appreciate every single comment, vote and read. It makes my days tons better!
Have a great day!
~Jen