Word Count: 671

Eren crashed down on a couch in the HQ common room and let out a groan. What a day, what a day. The Marleyan visitors were starting to grate on his nerves, and he'd stopped bothering to pretend he was okay with them, even in front of Armin and Mikasa.

Childhood-friend-turned-girlfriend Mikasa tiptoed over to him and sat down delicately next to him. "Hey," she said in a low voice. "You okay?"

Eren covered his eyes with his arm and grunted. "This sucks."

Mikasa said nothing, knowing exactly what he was talking about. "Eren, I've been telling you, they're not bad people. They're not demons, you know."

Eren grunted again. "Maybe not, but they are oppressors, you know. I don't think we should be socializing with them. Make 'em harder to get rid of."

Mikasa glared at him. "You probably sound like the same propaganda they feed their children over in Marley right now, Eren. You're falling into a bad mentality."

"Whatever." Eren rolled over. He sulked for a moment, and Mikasa let him, though her patience appeared to be wearing thin. However, just as she was about to wander off again, an idea fell into Eren's head. "Hey," he blurted, and she paid him a glance. "Will you marry me?"

And suddenly, he felt like a child again, ten years old and on the receiving end of one of his mother's lectures, when Mikasa looked at him almost indifferently. Hell, he was reminded of their own youth, hardly out of childhood at the tender age of eighteen.

"Forget it," he mumbled, waving her away and allowing his bangs to fall in front of his eyes. "If you hate me, just say so. Geez."

There was a silence, and for a long while, Eren thought she walked away in that silent, catlike manner that she did. He sulked at the idea of it. But then, a gentle hand, rough from years' worth of training calluses that honestly had no right to be on such a delicate and beautiful girl, brushed his hair out of his eyes, gently caressing his forehead all the while, and Eren found himself staring into the cloudy grey eyes of his lover.

They were melancholic, almost pitying with the way they looked at him. They were full of confusion, regret, and a whole slew of other, conflicting emotions that formed the storms that were her thoughts, her very soul. Love was there, too— it lay as it always did, just beneath the surface— but at the moment, Eren couldn't find it significant.

Mikasa softly pressed her lips against his forehead for all of a moment, then pulled away without a sound.

"No, Eren, I don't hate you," she said, and her eyes were beginning to brim over. Something within Eren stirred. Hope, perhaps? He thought that had long died, but he supposed not—

"But I will not marry you," she whispered, the first of many tears rolling down her cheeks, and that whatever-it-was died inside Eren's chest in an instant. "Not now anyway. You are not the Eren I fell in love with, the Eren I protected with my life, the Eren I hold so near and dear to my heart."

Eren wanted to wipe away the tears, make sure she didn't cry, but he didn't.

Mikasa kissed him again, just as softly as the last, right on the corner of his mouth. Just shy of where he wanted her to.

She let his hair fall back before his eyes, depriving him of her when her hand left his cheek, and somewhere in his throat, a lump was forming.

"I'll be back," she promised. "Ask me again when you're you again."

He could hear her footsteps fade away and lay still upon the couch for a long while after, unable to bring himself even to sulk.

She knew they didn't have that kind of time.

Author's Note xi. this is actually a rewrite of an unpublished chapter to my snk longfic lovechild. It really bears almost no resemblance to the original drabble aside from the flopping onto the couch and whim of a marriage proposal, but it was really… something. To return to these characters again after six months of bnha. Not that I'm returning to snk at all; I left that note on lovechild months ago. but, I've been thinking of rewriting this for a while, since it's just been lying around for over two years. I've also elected not to put this on ao3, but that's not actually relevant since you're reading from here.

The original dates back to early march 2016, and you know what? I get why I didn't become popular in the snk fandom now. Not that I'm popular in the bnha fandom atm, but god damn my writing in 2016 was awful how did any of you guys stand it? If you guys want to read the original ask over on my tumblr or smth.

Man. I can't believe I'm still doing stuff for snk after all this time. There is like a 99.98% chance that this is the last you'll see of my snk, unless I dig an old wip out, though if I do that I'm more likely to convert it to bnha tbh.

Anyway review or whatever if that's what you're into. I'd recommend against following since this is the last, but whatever floats your boat dude. I know I'm not as bubbly as I usually am in this a/n but I'm just. Kinda jaded w/this fandom now. Regardless, I hope you have a greaaaaaat daaaaaayyyyy~~~~~