SNK (c) Isayama Hajime. Rated T for obscene language.

Eren mumbled obscenities under his breath as he walked, kicking rocks every now and then in hopes of releasing some of his irritation. He felt so helpless– he had nearly been abducted by titan-shifting mass murders and had nearly the whole goddamn Scouting Legion and then some to come save him. More people had died because of his screw up. He had been so close to beating that bastard Reiner too, if only he had been faster, more skilled, stronger.

He grit his teeth in frustration as he swung his fist into a tree, leaving a small dent in its bark. He had been useless and risked his friends' lives thanks to his incompetence.

"Eren, what are you doing?" he heard a familiar voice ask. His nails dug into the skin of his palm in annoyance. Yes, it'd been her who had saved him in the end, yet again.

He turned his head, his deep green eyes meeting her dark obsidian. "Mikasa."

She slowly walked up to him, gently taking his hand in hers as she brought it back down his side. "You're not supposed to be out here."

He had snuck out of his room in the Scouting Legion's headquarters in the middle of the night, hoping to blow off some steam. Everyone who had participated in his rescue mission was resting there before they traveled back into Wall Sina in the morning to discuss the situation at hand.

Eren eyed her, noticing she had her full gear on. She must've been on patrol. "I know but…I just needed some air."

Mikasa shook her head. "You can't be out here, it's dangerous. Come on, I'll take you back to your room," she said as she tugged on his wrist.

He narrowed his eyes and yanked his hand free from her grip, slightly startling her. "Quit it, Mikasa! I don't need you to baby me!"

"I'm just looking out for you," she replied coolly, "I need to, especially after what happened-"

"Don't give me that shit! I could've handled it myself, I didn't need you to save me," Eren growled.

"Oh, really? With your hands bound and mouth gagged?" Mikasa retorted.

"I would've figured something out!"

"No, you wouldn't have," Mikasa argued, her voice rising, "You would've sat there helplessly as the Armored Titan took you away from us. Did you expect us to wait around while you 'figured something out'?"

Eren stared at her angry eyes in astonishment. Mikasa never got truly angry with him, even when he was getting himself in trouble as a kid or giving her a hard time. She would just look at him with a blank stare, sometimes an annoyed look if he was being a real pain, but never the angry look he saw in her eyes now. It was so unlike her- how worried had she really been?

He looked away, clicking his tongue in annoyance. "I don't need you to protect me all the time."

"Clearly I do, since you always seem to get yourself into trouble!"

"I don't need you to remind me of that! What, you think I don't know that I'm the biggest fuck up there ever was?!" he yelled, his temper flaring like a wildfire, untamed and growing bigger by the minute.

"If you know that, then why won't you let me protect you Eren?!" she yelled back, her increasing frustration evident on her face.

"I'm not your fucking kid or your little brother! That's why! I can fucking take care of myself!" he shouted in her face.

"That's not true and you know it! For God's sake Eren, quit lying to me and tell me the truth for once!"

"YOU WANT TO KNOW THE REAL REASON?!" Eren roared, his nose bumping with hers as he screamed in her face, "IT'S BECAUSE I SHOULD BE THE ONE PROTECTING YOU!"

That shut her up.

Eren didn't stop, though. His emotions were rushing through him like a broken dam, the words just spilling from his mouth. "You used to depend on me all the time when we first met. I used to be strong enough to protect you," he hissed bitterly, his voice quieter now, "but now it's you who's saving me all the time. It's not supposed to be like this, Mikasa. Now, all I do is fuck things up for you, putting you in danger…I never wanted things to turn out like this." He looked down in shame. "I wasn't strong enough to protect my mom, and even with these fucking titan powers, I'm still not strong enough to protect you either. It makes me so mad…that you don't need me anymore."

Eren avoided looking in her general direction like the plague, choosing to stare off into the surrounding forest. He felt a little embarrassed now that he'd finally spilled his guts out to her, but that feeling quickly melted away when he heard her shakily take in a breath. His eyes snapped over to her, widening when he saw tears cascading down her cheeks, her hand covering her mouth in surprise.

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Shit. Mikasa, don't cry – I didn't – I just –"

"No – I'm sorry…" she mumbled, quickly wiping her eyes with her sleeve. "I'm just happy…"

"Happy?" he asked incredulously. They were having a screaming match just moments ago, and now she's happy?

She looked up at him with a small smile on her lips. "You know, Eren, when you saved me back then, I thought you were so strong and so brave…I wanted to be like you. I wanted to be strong like you, so you didn't have to put yourself in danger for me anymore. I wanted to protect you, just like you protected me. You were my first friend…so I just don't want to lose you." She looked away, her hands reaching up to her scarf. "And you have protected me, twice. As a titan."

Eren was rendered speechless, his mouth slightly agape as he watched her play with the ends of her scarf absentmindedly. She...wanted to be like him?

"I guess we're not really that different, huh," Eren chuckled, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck, a small blush dusting his cheeks. He felt a little ridiculous now for yelling at her, yet he was relieved. He softened at the girl before him before he took her in his arms, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly.

"Eren?" Mikasa squeaked nervously, her hands shakily resting on his shoulders.

"I'm an idiot, aren't I Mikasa…" I'm sorry.

Her eyes softened, recognizing the hidden apology in his voice. She wrapped her arms around his neck tightly, burying her face on his shoulder. "Yeah, you are." I forgive you.

He leaned back, his hands lingering on her waist as he looked into her eyes. He allowed a small, rare smile to slip onto his lips. "Thanks."

Her face burned red and she quickly ducked into her scarf, turning around as she grabbed his hand. "You still can't be out here though."

Eren groaned in exasperation, but allowed her to tug him along as she pleased, a warm feeling settling in his chest as he focused on their joined hands.

Some things never change.

A/N: Woo, some mikaere angst and fluff! sorry if the summary was misleading, there wasn't any hot scenes in here lol. I'm not really good at writing stuff like that but I'm learning!

I wanted to kind of explore why Eren is so, you know, bitchy with Mikasa, haha. He's actually got a lot of insecurities and an inferiority complex, and I'd imagine even more so after he gets rescued. (if he ever does, let's hope!) This is kind of the result of that.

And please pretend that nobody heard them, or that they were out of earshot or something...I probably should've taken that into consideration after realizing this in hindsight, haha. I have the worst planning skills /sob