Disclaimer: Though TheDarkCanTell tales of Shingeki no Kyojin, the author certainly doesn't own it.

A/N: Hey everyone! It appears TheDarkCanTell a second tale! This one's gonna be a collection of random ideas and is in tribute to two of my role models on this site; the inimitable 'songs' and her majesty the 'HighQueen'. Together these two amazing writers have taught me the immense (and liberating) pleasure that lies in a story devoid of any major plot but hinged on prompts and spontaneity and a Mikaeretic heart! I feel it is only my duty to attempt to give you a sliver of what they gave me; hours of happiness as I pored through their masterpieces over and over again! I hope this does the trick.

Please read and review! Note, my decision to continue this depends on if I know TheDarkCanTell it well, and only your reviews can tell me that. Feel free to PM me as well with prompts and stuff. I'll be needing them.

Finally, check out my other ongoing multi-chapter tale, 'For Freedom, For Family'. It's a blast, if I may say so myself ;)

So, for Tale 1…

Timeframe: Sometime during training at boot camp, under the merciless thumb of Keith Shardis. I like to think it's canon, but that's just me!

Pairing: MikaEren

Summary: It's Career Day for the cadets of the 104th training unit, which means they get to go to the capital and for a day (maybe more) get a glimpse of what life as a military police could be like. The objective is to motivate the budding warriors to do their best during training so that they could earn their way into a life of peace and security, deep where the fear of titans is nothing but a distant memory (mental image of Jean drooling at the prospect flashes, hehe!)

To make the experience more authentic, the cadets are assigned in pairs to different tasks. Nothing much, just a little here and there to help while away the time as they enjoy the rare pleasures of the luxurious capital. Naturally our two star-crossed lovers end up on the same team, where they will find themselves…

PLAYING HOUSE

"Here, Eren; your turn now."

"No way!" Came the irritable reply.

"Don't worry, I just changed her diapers, so she'll be 'good' for at least the next 30 minutes."

Eren eyed the wriggling bundle in Mikasa's outstretched arms like it was a pint-sized titan and wrinkled his nose.

"Keep dreaming!"

"You can't expect me to carry her the whole day by myself."

"Then put her back in her crib, for fuck's sake! That's where we found her, right?!"

"If I put her down she'll just start crying again like the last time. She needs to be carried, at least until she falls asleep," Mikasa explained. "She's restless and wants to play."

"Do I look like some sort of giant teddy bear to you?! Besides, isn't that what that rattle thingy's there for?"

Mikasa sighed. "Eren, this is supposed to be a cooperative mission."

He snorted. Some mission. He couldn't believe she could even apply the word 'mission' to something as absurd as this with such a straight face.

"Please Eren, I'm getting tired."

"Your problem, not mine."

"Eren!"

"I said no!"

Eren considered himself the resident authority when it came to Mikasa, besides perhaps Armin, who didn't count because he was imbued with a natural proclivity for intuition. He took great pride in being able to easily anticipate her reactions. The trick, he had realized, was all in carefully watching her eyes.

Like now, for instance.

She didn't scowl or anything. Her face remained as impassive as always, but something in her grey eyes told him she was about steamroll over his protests and do something he wouldn't like. Like maybe shoving the little runt into his hands. He hurriedly stepped back out of reach just in time, thwarting her, and smirked in satisfaction as a tiny frown or frustration momentarily creased her brow.

Ignoring her exasperated sigh Eren walked over to an armchair a safe distance away and flopped into it. Since when had babysitting become a mission? It was bad enough that as per tradition they'd all had to come to the capital on Career Day, all in the name of inspiring them to work hard enough to be among the top 10 and earn a place in the elite Military Police force.

Now he and Mikasa had gotten saddled with the 'immense honor' of babysitting the brat of one of the city's 'most upstanding citizens'. Citizens who had promptly dumped their bundle of joy into Mikasa's arms, along with a 5 paged list of do's and don'ts, and gone out to attend to 'matters of paramount stately importance', which Eren strongly suspected was a euphemism for 'partying hard all day at some snobbish event'.

He couldn't suppress a long, shuddering yawn that wracked his whole frame. He was ready to expire from boredom. At this point he would gladly have been charged with any other task, even filling in as the town clerk's understudy at the town hall alongside Armin and Krista or mucking out the royal stables with Connie and Sasha. Anything else would be better than this. Give him psychopathic titans any day, please!

For the millionth time he wondered what Jean and Marco could possibly see in the military police. Or at least Marco. Horse-face Jean, he knew, was nothing more than a shameless craven opportunist intent on ensconcing himself in a place he deemed safe from titans. Like cooped up frightened livestock scurrying to the center of the cage when the butcher showed up, Eren thought with ever growing disdain.

Marco, on the other hand, he couldn't get. The guy seemed to genuinely love the idea of becoming one. It had been obvious in the way his eyes had shimmered when captain Keith Shardis had announced earlier that day that the 104th squad would be taking the traditional Career Day trip to the capital. For a moment he had been certain the tall boy was going to swoon at the prospect of being face to face with his lifelong ambition.

Eren shook his head in amazement. Whatever the case, it was clear that he was the worst possible person for the job, especially if it consisted of writing for hours on end, cleaning out after horses and – gasp – watching over some drooling, bawling brat while its parents were out having the time of their lives.

The only person he could think of who was probably more unsuited than him for the task was Mikasa. She had always been freakishly strong, he thought with a familiar tinge of envy, and had already shown great promise of becoming one of the 'glorious walls to protect the walls' captain Keith Shardis had been going on about during his 'welcoming' speech. Presently he lifted his reclined head and craned his neck to see how she was coping.

Mikasa was cradling the baby in her arms like it was made of porcelain. It stared up at her, its big unblinking blue eyes filled with wonder. She cooed gently and was rewarded by its bubbly laugh and the chubby hands that shot up to tug at her hair. She turned her head to the side, catching its fingers gently between her lips, and the baby's eyes once more crinkled in infantile mirth. Then it cooed back and this time she was the one to laugh.

She had always loved babies, even as a child. From as far back as she could remember they had fascinated her more than anything else and they still did. Except Eren perhaps, she thought with a faint blush. She remembered impulsively asking her mother how they were made, on that day. A faint smile stole its way to her lips as she remembered how her father had sputtered incoherently when her mother diverted the innocent question towards him. Now she clearly knew the reason behind his flustered response.

The baby cooed once again and she felt a pang of longing in her heart. She wanted to have one of her own some day. Boy or girl it wouldn't matter, but she supposed she would prefer a boy. As the first child, at least. A little boy with dark hair and bright emerald green eyes. Her blush deepened and she smiled again to herself, inordinately glad that Eren couldn't read her thoughts.

Eren stared at Mikasa, dumbfounded. The normally impassive girl he called his family had disappeared, leaving in her wake a young woman with rosy cheeks and a gentle smile on her face, the picture of perfect bliss. As he watched her something unfamiliar stirred in him, something exceedingly tender that made his chest swell. Just then Mikasa lifted her gaze from the baby and their eyes met. Immediately Eren looked away, blushing furiously.

Mikasa was just as taken aback by what she saw as he had been. The tender look in his eyes as he watched was one she had seldom, if ever, seen before. It reminded her that despite their seemingly incessant bickering, Eren was the one person who had always understood her more than anybody else.

He was the one with whom she could comfortably share her deepest thoughts and secrets, as she had often done when they lay in the meadows and in the obscurity of their room after his mother had tucked them into bed and blown out the candle. Not that they had done any sharing in a while, though. Too long, if truth be told. She took a deep breath.

"Eren?"

"Hm?"

"Would you like to have a baby?"

"What?!"

He shot up into an upright position in the chair and stared at her, incredulous.

"N-no!" She said quickly, turning bright red. "I don't – mean right now or – or with…"

Her words trickled off into incoherence as she turned redder and redder.

"Oh… right," he said, blushing as well. He lay back in the armchair, his legs dangling over one of the arms.

A brief silence, then: "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well would you? Like to have a child someday, I mean?"

"What kind of question is that?! And what's with all this baby talk, all of a sudden?"

"Never mind," she said, hoping her disappointment didn't reflect in her voice. Another failed attempt at bringing back the past with Eren, she noted mentally.

Eren sighed.

"I suppose I would. Someday, perhaps. When the time is right."

She wanted to ask him when he thought that would be but she already knew the answer. When he had finished his herculean mission of taking down all the titans in the world. And finished exploring the world beyond the walls. And found a girl he was interested in and wanted to settle down with. Maybe a certain blonde with heavy lidded blue eyes and a weird obsession with kicking people. The thought filled her with an unwelcome sense of loss. The baby gurgled, distracting her from her wistful musings.

"Which would you prefer first, boy or girl?"

"How on earth am I supposed to know a thing like that?!" He snapped, as startled by the sudden question as by the breathiness of her voice. "I'm a guy, remember? We don't think of that stuff."

"Armin would know."

"That's Armin," he retorted, turning his face into the armchair. "He knows everything."

Just then the baby became more restless in its fidgeting. Mikasa rocked it gently and cooed some more, to no avail. She quickly checked its diaper. Nothing. She sighed.

"The baby's hungry."

"So?" Eren asked carelessly, his voice slightly muffled as he spoke into the chair.

She willed herself to remain calm. "So I need to go to the grocery store to buy stuff for making the broth cited in the list."

"Oh," he said, but didn't budge.

Several seconds ticked past, then minutes. Mikasa's patience, already worn thin, snapped. Unfortunately for Eren, she considered herself the resident authority on everything Eren-related as well. Except maybe Armin, who didn't count because of his natural intuitiveness. She nudged a glass off a nearby table and it fell to the wooden floor, shattering noisily. At once Eren sprang off the chair.

"What was that?!" He demanded.

"I think I hurt myself," she said weakly, clutching at her ankle with her free arm.

In a flash he was at her side. "What?! Where? Hey-!"

"There!" She said, leaping nimbly back before he could push back the baby she had just shoved into his arms. "Now be sure to check her diaper every fifteen minutes to thirty minutes, okay? And don't forget to play with her."

The baby whimpered with displeasure at the sudden turn of events. So did Eren.

"H-hey Mikasa!" He sputtered with a rising sense of panic. "Where do you think you're going?! Don't you dare leave me alone with this… I don't know what on earth I'm supposed to do!"

She turned round in the doorway. "You can start by holding her correctly. Use the crook of both your arms to cradle her and always keep her head higher than her feet."

"What?!"

The baby began to bawl in earnest and Eren yelled for her. Mikasa shut the door behind her, muting the ruckus from within. Then with a deep breath and a relieved smile, she stepped out into the sunbathed street.

Mikasa paused momentarily on the threshold of the lush cottage upon her return hours later, lowering two grocery bags full to bursting to the floor. The shopping had taken her much longer than expected, owing to the rarity of some of the items on the list. She'd had to go to down several blocks to purchase some of them. Damned rich people and their exotic tastes, she thought irritably as she reached for the door knob.

And then she heard it. a soft voice speaking. It couldn't be – yet it was… Eren's?! She hurried over to the window and peered in. He was on his feet, his back to her and he was rocking the baby gently in his arms as he spoke softly to it. She couldn't make out the words, though, but they seemed to be doing the trick because the baby was no longer crying. Her heart melted at the sight. She watched them for a while longer then went to the door and gently pried it open.

"Hi," she whispered.

"Shh!" Eren hissed at once, winking at her.

She nodded silently, her inner butterflies taking off once again. He settled into the armchair and continued crooning to the baby. She quietly reclaimed her grocery bags and tiptoed into the kitchen where she put the purchase away. She knew she ought to start making the broth right away, in case the baby was hungry, but she couldn't resist. She simply had to see him at it again.

She cracked open the kitchen door an inched and spied. He was talking softly to the baby again. She opened the door a little wider for better hearing. He appeared to be telling her a story, much like Armin had done for them when they were kids. His story, however, was nothing like the prince-and-princess laden fairy tales Armin used to regal them with.

"– and the brave legionnaire shot forth with a timely burst of steam from his 3DMG, pivoted round the giant tree towards the Colossal Titan's neck and with an almighty roar sliced off a really thick chunk of flesh, fatally wounding it. Filthy titan-blood splattered everywhere–"

Mikasa was torn between the urge to laugh or smack some sense into him. She opted for neither and moved forward to perch on the arm of the chair, listening fondly as he relayed his gory idea of a bedtime story to the baby. That aside, he would make a great father someday.

"– and when the legionnaire lifted his weary eyes he saw that it was over. Thanks to him the titans were all slain. Thanks to him the walls that had held humanity captive for so long could finally come down. Thanks to him, they could reclaim the world that was their birthright. The End. So,did you like it, my little sweetheart?"

Mikasa's heart leapt at the endearment, so unusual coming from him and yet so right. But of course it was meant for the baby, she reminded herself. The baby frothed sleepily, its eyes slowly shutting. The three of them sat in companionable silence. This was what she had always wanted, Mikasa couldn't help thinking. This was how it should be. The perfect little family. Eren, Mikasa and a baby.

"A girl," Eren suddenly said, breaking the silence and interrupting her wishful thinking.

She blinked down at him. "What?"

"That's in answer to your earlier question," he said softly, still looking down at the baby nestled in his arms.

"…Oh."

"Of course I'll have to purge this world of titans first," he continued. "There's enough suffering and misery going on in it without bringing an innocent child in to experience it all, see?"

"Mhm."

"Plus no child of mine will grow cooped up like an animal awaiting slaughter."

"…mhm."

"But once I'm done, once it's all over, I wanna have a child. Children. The first would be a girl, though."

His voice was low, almost dreamy. He appeared to be lost in thought as he spoke, almost like he was thinking aloud.

"Of course any kid would do, but I'd really like for it to be a girl. She'll need to keep her kid brothers and sisters in check, so she'll have to be strong and yet kind, gentle but firm, just like you. And she'll have your lovely dark hair and your amazingly beautiful grey eyes and –"

Eren paused in midsentence, suddenly aware of what he was saying, and to whom he was saying it. He glanced up quickly, praying she like the child in his arms had been lulled to sleep. Not a chance. She was wide awake, the grey eyes he had just commented about wide open in disbelief. Disbelief and something else he couldn't quite identify. Their faces, mere inches apart, reddened simultaneously.

He leapt to his feet and she immediately followed suit.

"I-I-I'll put her away in her crib now!" He practically screamed and the baby twitched in its sleep.

"A-and I'll m-make her something t-to eat," Mikasa stuttered in response.

They shot each other a last embarrassed glance before speeding off to their respective tasks, Eren mortified beyond words and inwardly cursing Career Day, Mikasa with an indescribably warm feeling fueling her fiercely racing heart.

A/N: So? What do you guys think? Please review or PM and let me know. The continuity of this trend depends on it.