Taking Notes

Mikasa tapped her pen against her notebook, her eyes glazing over as she stared unseeing at the presentation flickering slide after slide about protein degradation. After the lecture had passed the halfway mark, her mind had started wandering.

The person sat next to her shifted sharply in their seat and she glanced across to see the blonde haired girl glaring angrily at her, eyes flashing down to Mikasa's hand. She placed her pen down firmly on top of her notebook, the page only quarter full with actual notes, the rest bordered with tiny doodles of birds, forests, and flowers – all an echo of the career she had followed for nearly seven years before packing up her camera and sitting down for four years of biology-related lectures. It was fascinating stuff, but two hours of slides filled with senseless text and a voice of lecturer who truly couldn't give a damn droning on, anyone would struggle to focus.

She glanced again at the girl beside her and saw that her notebook was full to the brim with notes. She seemed to be on her last page and was attempting to squeeze a paragraph of writing into the margin.

Mikasa ripped a couple of pages out of her own notebook and pushed them along the bench so they touched the girl's arm.

"What?" the girl hissed in an agitated whisper.

Mikasa gestured noiselessly at the paper.

The girl eyed them for a moment, obviously wanting to refuse the offer but the necessity of taking notes won the internaly at battle and she snatched the pages up, quickly writing on them now as the lecturer droned on.

Mikasa sighed. She clearly wasn't going to get any sign of appreciation from her neighbour and she felt stupid for expecting it. It was approaching the end of the year, the module exams a huge obstacle to entering the second year of their course, and she had been sat next to 'moody blonde girl' for the entire second semester. She still didn't know her name, only that if Mikasa breathed too loud or dared move in her creaky seat, the girl would flash her the ugliest look of frustration.

"Right then," the lecturer called out in a louder voice. "That's all for today. I'll see you all next week."

And with that, the presentation was closed down, the computer logged off, and the lecturer was out of the door in thirty seconds.

Mikasa snapped her notebook shut and dropped it into her bag along with her pen. As she stood up and began to make her way towards the door, she wondered if she had made the correct decision changing career paths from wildlife photography to…well, whatever this biology degree offered her. She had considered if it were a mistake many times in the past year – something she had never done while taking pictures for almost seven years. But her brother had always wanted to be a doctor and had passed his medicine degree well, his future all glowing and colourful, while she had fought for any ounce of reputation just to get the next job, which were sometimes very few and far between. So she had decided to take the plunge and try for something that would give her a more secure future, but once again she was doubting her choice.

She shook her head, chasing the thoughts away. She had done it now, she wasn't going to give up. And at least she still had photography as a hobby. She shrugged her bag farther up her shoulder as she pushed the door open and stepped into the corridor, smiling as she knew her camera was waiting at home for her, ready for the weekend away with her brother and his friends.

But the weekend passed too quickly, and she soon was back in lectures. Some were interesting, others not so much, but the worst was definitely the last one of the week with 'Mr Drone.'

However, as she took her seat next to the moody blonde girl, it wasn't the usual lecturer who pushed their way inside the room, carrying a cardboard box, and took position behind the podium, clacking their login into the computer on the keyboard.

The other students soon noticed the new arrival and the room filled with curious and confused murmurings. Mikasa glanced at her watch but they were all here at the correct time. She then pulled out her phone to check if she had received any emails about today's lecture, but there were none.

"Who the hell is that?" she heard moody blonde girl mumble.

"Okay, everyone!" the new arrival called out. "Settle down, everyone!"

Mikasa turned to look down at the woman standing behind the podium, the wall behind her lit up with today's presentation. It appeared to be more colourful than usual.

"I'm taking your lecture today," the woman said, her brunette hair tied up in a ponytail that swayed to the side as she turned her head to look at everyone in turn. "Your usual guy is stuck in bed with the man-flu." That gained a few chuckles from a few people in the room. It seemed to encourage the woman and Mikasa realized that she was nervous. "I had him as a lecturer too when I studied here – it happens every year, I swear." She glanced down at the computer screen, her hands shaking. "I also know his slides can be as bland as an unseasoned potato so I've livened them up a little." That earned a few cheers. "My name is Sasha Braus. Let's get on." And then she hit the spacebar for the next slide and the lecture began.

Mikasa actually paid attention throughout the lecture this time, Sasha's lecturing style keeping everyone's focus, and she took three-times as much notes as usual, with only one doodle in the corner of the page, drawn while Sasha had been loading up a video to further explain something.

When the lecture was over, Sasha held up a desperate hand to stop anyone dashing out. "Wait, I have some of your coursework to give back."

She called everyone's name out and one by one, students walked to the front to accept their marked work and then left. Mikasa groaned when she realized that the names were being called out in reverse alphabetic order, meaning that she would probably be one of the last remaining.

"Annie Leonhart," Sasha shouted out in a clear voice.

Moody blonde girl rose from her seat, swinging her bag up over her head, and then she went to collect her work, giving Sasha a curt nod of thanks.

"So, Annie's her name," Mikasa mumbled to herself.

She closed her eyes for a moment, the week suddenly catching up with her, and then someone was shaking her arm.

She startled to her feet, her head bashing with someone else's.

"S-sorry," she heard a voice say and she focused on the brunette woman stood beside her, a piece of marked coursework in her hand.

Mikasa glanced quickly around the room and saw that everyone else had already left, meaning that she and Sasha were alone.

"You fell asleep," Sasha said. "Here's your work."

Mikasa accepted it. "I'm sorry," she told her, gesturing at Sasha's head. "Are you okay?"

Sasha smiled wide, shaking her head. "I'm fine." Then her eyes darted down as Mikasa gathered up her notebook. She pointed at the single doodle Mikasa had done in the corner of the page. "Is that the Canon EOS 7D Mark II?"

Mikasa glanced down at her notebook, surprised that Sasha had been able to recognize the camera in the incredibly scruffy sketch. But then she realized that Sasha wasn't pointing at her notebook, but at the leaflet sticking out of the top of it that Mikasa had stuffed between the pages a few months ago and forgotten about, only rediscovering it today and using the picture to quickly doodle a copy.

"I always wanted to buy that," Sasha continued before she could reply. "But proper cameras are all a bit above what I can afford."

Mikasa looked at the woman with interest. "You like photography?"

Sasha laughed lightly, waving a dismissive hand. "I wouldn't say photography – I just enjoy taking a few snaps every now and again." Then she motioned towards the coursework that Mikasa was now putting into her bag. "I had a look at a few people's work before I came in today. Yours was by far the best."

Mikasa stopped, her coursework hovering above her bag. "The best?"

Sasha nodded. "It's obvious you work hard and it pays off."

Mikasa let her work drop into her bag and she zipped it closed. "I see…"

Her quiet and unexcited tone seemed to intrigue the woman stood in front of her. "You don't sound pleased."

"I think maybe I was hoping to be bad at this," she said, surprised at herself for saying so much to a stranger.

"Bad? Is this not what you want to do?" The woman was frowning.

"I used to be a wildlife photographer," she explained. "But now instead of taking photos of animals, I'm learning about how they work."

"Were you good?" asked Sasha, sounding genuinely interested.

"I like to think so."

Sasha glanced down at Mikasa's bag and stared at it for a moment, as if trying to remember something. "Mikasa…Ackerman?"

She nodded.

"You won a competition a few years back? I remember it being the paper because you'd won it twice in a row. That year…it was a photo of a leopard and a stray dog."

Mikasa blinked, once again surprised by the woman. "Yeah, that was me." She had travelled to many different countries, taking photos and finding work wherever she could, and she had used the photo she had taken on the outskirts of a small village where a leopard had come out of the trees to drink at the stream. A dog from the village had also been drinking at the stream when the wild cat had arrived and Mikasa had been expecting to be witness to either something violent or the animals dashing in opposite directions, but neither had occurred. Instead they had approached each other, touched noses while sniffing at each other, and then parted ways amicably after drinking from the stream. Mikasa had taken dozens of photos of the two, choosing the best for the competition and had won for the second year in a row with it.

Sasha grinned, excitedly clapping her hands together. "You really took that photo?"

She nodded. "I loved my work," she said, starting to move past Sasha and towards the door, the woman falling into step beside her. "But it was a struggle to make enough to keep afloat, so here I am."

Sasha hummed in response, smiling in thanks when Mikasa held the door open for her. They stepped out of the room and walked down the corridor together, their conversation taking them down the stairs and outside of the building.

"That all sounds so amazing," Sasha said after Mikasa had described another journey she had taken to capture a photo of a flower that only bloomed in the depths of a humid, dangerous jungle. "I think I understand why you wanted a reason to quit science."

Mikasa opened her mouth and then closed it, turning to face the woman with a slight frown. "I never said I wanted to quit."

The woman smiled, sheepishly. "You kind of did, in a way." She glanced at her wrist, which was bare. "Sorry, but do you have the time?"

Mikasa checked. "Quarter to six." They had been talking for much longer than Mikasa realized.

Sasha paused, her lips pursing as she considered something. Then she looked at Mikasa with determination. "You probably won't see me again."

"Oh." Mikasa didn't know what to say to that.

"I was just called in on a favour to cover the lecture," she elaborated. "I'm actually a research assistant at a lab studying motor neurone diseases."

Mikasa felt her eyebrows go up at that. "I see."

"I would like to talk to you some more, though," Sasha said, her determination seemingly wavering.

"I normally leave my weekends free for my family and my photography and…" Mikasa drifted off, her gaze moving off to the side as she thought.

"Oh, it's doesn't matter then," Sasha blurted, backing away a few steps. "It was very nice to meet you."

Mikasa took a quick step towards her. "Are you free Tuesday?"

The woman's eyes widened. "Tuesday? I…"

"Here? At five?"

Sasha's grin returned, wide and relieved. "I'll see you then, Miss Ackerman."

"See you, Miss Braus."

A/N:

A oneshot for tumblr user, just-madman, as part of small collection of mikasasha oneshots under a particular theme of prompts.

I've never written mikasasha before and I never really write Mikasa either, so forgive me for any mistakes in their characters.

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