Based on a prompt I saw on Tumblr, but unfortunately I cannot for the life of me remember where I saw it.

So enjoy.

I do not own Attack on Titan or it's affiliated characters.

One day, Sasha thought, one day I'll be in a house like that.

In front of her was a modest two storey house. Modest to all but Sasha, who stood there gaping in awe. But never mind that, she had a school to attend.

Sasha never asked to be poor. Well, she didn't think that she did. Why would you want to have no money anyway? As much as she liked potatoes and bread, she really just wanted a sandwich, or an ice cream, or something fancy like… the rice-y stuff. A car passed her by. There just happened to be a small puddle of accumulated rain from overnight despite the sunny weather and the tyre went splashing right into it. And the water splashed right onto Sasha's new second hand uniform.

"Darn it," She muttered, wiping herself down as best as she could. After all, she hadn't much water to waste to wash something as inconsequential as a uniform. She would have to wait till the end of the week, and just hope that her uniform would dry nicely.

"Hey!" Someone called. Sasha instinctively looked up, just in case the call was for her. She couldn't see anyone around. "Hey! Potato girl!"

Oh. It was definitely for her then. There was only one potato girl in the whole world.

"Potato girl!" The boy was in front of her now, and Sasha found herself wondering how he got there when the street was empty. He was very short. It was almost funny, but Sasha held in her laughter. "Have you got a potato for lunch today again? Here, I saved you some scraps. From my breakfast."

It was a piece of blackened toast. The dry, charred edges made Sasha's mouth harden just looking at it. And when she looked up, the boy was gone, laughing with his friends. She couldn't just throw it away. Whether he was genuine or not didn't matter, the fact remained that Sasha had forgotten her lunch that morning. She needed to eat something, and a dry cold piece of toast was better than starving. She felt like crying.

Every day at school was the same, give or take. Today was no exception, for anyone. Especially not for Sasha Blause. Her name was called on the role, she tried her hardest to keep up with the work in class but found herself falling behind as lunchtime rolled around. Now her homework pile had doubled once more and she knew that there was no way on earth she could ever finish it and felt like crying again. Why did she even bother with school when she was so book dumb? She would have been better off working full time to earn some money. Maybe a restaurant. Or café. Some place with food.

Lunch finally rang the school bell (Or, Sasha wondered, was it the other way around?) and Sasha excitedly opened her bag, only to find her sad little toast looking even sadder. In fact, one could say that the crumbs that were left were rather inedible. Sasha may have been poor, but she wasn't about to go scavenging through her bag for a handful of crumbs like a pig. A tentative little hand tapped her so lightly on the shoulder she wasn't sure whether it was real or not. Turns out it was, and the offending hand belonged to the boy who looked like a girl who was named Leggout or something weird. His blonde hair was so… immaculately brushed and cleaned that Sasha had no doubt he had access to a luxurious shower every night and stayed in there for hours until his skin went all wrinkly, and then he had to use million-dollar moisturizer to smooth out his skin and he probably wore makeup, too…

"U-um, excuse me?" Oh, whoops, he was speaking. Sasha scratched her neck awkwardly.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I missed that…"

The boy looked faintly shocked for a moment at her voice. What, did she never talk in class or something? … Actually, she didn't really, did she?

"Um, I was just- we just, you know, if you don't have anywhere to sit, then… we were just wondering if you wanted to sit with us."

Sasha blinked. Then rubbed her eyes and blinked again. It was as if someone had finally realised she had to sit all by herself at lunch time, nibbling on her bread or potatoes or just staring at the floor because she never got a seat at a table.

"… Sure!"

And so Sasha found herself some friends.

They introduced themselves, and Sasha found out that it wasn't Leggin but Armin, and his friends Eren and Mikasa.

Armin was really smart – maybe if she asked, he would help her with her homework. Eren and her didn't really click. She was sure he was a nice guy, but he was very driven and often out doing his sporty things and applying for the council. And then there was Mikasa.

The dark haired, half-Asian girl was an enigma, and Sasha loved enigmas. She also loved food. Sometimes, Mikasa would offer her food, but then Sasha would hesitate and Mikasa would eat it herself. That made Sasha feel sad, but Mikasa was immune to her puppy-dog eyes unlike Armin, who would be the next person to offer her something to eat. Sasha enjoyed having friends. It was nice.

"Eh?! B-but, Mikasaa!" Even when Mikasa pretended to offer her food again.

Because she would always, always, find a little wrapped bun, or chocolate, or something, in the bottom of her bag, and she had a feeling she knew who put it there.

Just because she had friends to sit with now didn't mean she was exempt from the teasing she endured before. Aside from her new friends, if she could call them friends, and Christa, who was nice to everyone but spent way too much time with Ymir, everyone seemed to still call her 'potato girl' and other names. Sasha was foolish for thinking that her friends would make her normal again. They didn't. They just gave her a little bit of happiness to come back to each day.

It was probably two weeks after their first meeting when it happened. Sasha was packing her bag at the time.

It was nothing, really. Just a boy - was it the toast boy, Sasha wondered? - Who stepped a bit too close and said a bit too much. Sasha couldn't remember, and still can't remember, what exactly it was that he said, but it was probably something along the lines of "What, no potato today, potato girl? Can't you afford the big expensive city potatoes anymore?" when something that had never happened before, happened.

Mikasa stepped in.

It wasn't an obnoxious introduction. She didn't shout or raise a fist like Eren would have, nor did she try to negotiate like Armin. She just stood there, waiting for the boy to realise where she was and who she was. When he did, he just about wet his pants.

"O-oh! Uh, Mikasa! Heheh, yeah, I'll be, um…" Before he could even finish his sentence, Mikasa was right there in front of him and Sasha thought she looked like an angel. One of those archangels with the flaming swords and piercing eyes. She was prodding the guy in the chest and Sasha could see him swallowing.

"Step back." She warned, and that was all she needed to say because he had fled the scene. Sasha looked on as Mikasa just kept on walking, as if she had meant to stop and as if that was the gate she always left from. Sasha knew better. Mikasa always walked with her to her bus stop.

So Sasha had to walk home by herself, and now there was another piece of the puzzle that was Mikasa she had to try and figure out.

The very next day, at school, Sasha walked in with a clean shirt for once, though her skirt was in desperate need of ironing. She was quite proud of her hair, which was also washed and brushed and put up in a cute little ponytail. She loved being able to wash her hair twice a week, though she knew she would be sad when the shampoo ran out.

Mikasa was already there, fingering her scarlet scarf which hid her face from view. Sasha liked her scarf. It looked warm. Eren and Armin were, oddly enough, nowhere to be found. It was odd seeing Mikasa by herself, so Sasha took the opportunity with both hands and walked over to talk to her, but was rudely interrupted by the toast boy's tall friend. He actually didn't interrupt, but the way he looked at them made her feel uncomfortable. Somehow, Sasha knew the dark haired girl next to her was feeling uncomfortable too, though she didn't show it.

"How's your girlfriend going?" He called across from where he and his friends were standing. Sasha thought that they were talking to someone else, but judging by Mikasa's reaction, she guessed they weren't. Actually, Mikasa acting so emotional was strange, too. The way her shoulders tensed up and faltered in her glare a little made her seem almost…

Human.

Sasha realised, then, that Mikasa felt just as alone as she used to. Even though Mikasa had friends, and good ones too, Sasha felt sad because Mikasa had to hide herself from view all the time. Too scared to do anything different, just as Sasha was too scared to come closer.

"They were only joking, Mikasa." Sasha said simply, looking up from her feet. Mikasa was still having an inaudible conversation with the ground. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you?"

Now, Sasha was only joking so she completely and utterly did not expect Mikasa to look up, close her eyes and mumble, "Isometimeswishwewere…"

Um. Sasha tried to think of something to say but instead her heart decided to hammer away in her chest and she felt a flush creeping up her neck.

"Um."

Scrambling for words, and not wanting Mikasa to wear that sad look anymore, Sasha just blurted out whatever she thought of next.

"I- I- mean, don't be sad, Mikasa, I know you get sad sometimes a- and I guess that maybe I… do too?"

Sasha didn't realise it until then. She loved it when Mikasa was smiling and why was she smiling? Was she… laughing?

"Wh- why…?"

Then she realised her mistake. In her blundering impulsiveness, she had slipped into her accent, which, when she thought about it, would have been pretty noticeable for anyone other than herself. And now Mikasa was laughing at her. Great.

"I think it's cute."

If Sasha was blushing before, now she was positively glowing.

Crap crap I'm sorry it even started out serious and then at the end something happened and I think this is satire?

Anyway, enjoy, and somebody please write some more MikaSasha otherwise I'll be forced to spew out monstrosities such as this.

See you later!