Amaranth

Chapter 25: Gardenia

When Mikasa woke up the next morning, she was surprised to find arms around her. She panicked momentarily before realizing it was only Annie and calming down. In fact, the realization brought a content smile to her face, and she couldn't stop herself from lifting one of Annie's hands to kiss it.

As she did, she heard the blonde grunt, and Mikasa did her best not to laugh. She was sure Annie was an early riser, but she guessed she must also love her sleep. Deciding to let the girl sleep, she did her best to grab her phone without waking Annie.

Once she got her phone, she checked the time, and she wasn't surprised when it said that it was only 7 in the morning. Still, her head was lightly pounding from the alcohol last night, and she didn't want to leave the warmth of the bed she was in -a problem she'd never had before-.

Instead, she turned to face Annie, smiling as she moved the girl's blonde hair from over her face. After that, she put her arms around Annie and stayed like that for a while. She couldn't be sure how long she stayed like that, but she knew she didn't fall back asleep.

After a while, she saw Annie's eyes groggily flutter open. "Good morning," Mikasa whispered to her. Annie said nothing as she blinked a few times before closing her eyes again and scooting closer to Mikasa. The latter laughed as she tightened her grip on the blonde, and she heard Annie sigh as she tried to drift back to sleep.

It was about 3 hours later when Annie opened her eyes and kept them open. "Did you sleep okay?" Mikasa asked softly when she saw signs of Annie actively trying to wake up.

"Mhm," she hummed sleepily.

"Are you feeling hungover?" Mikasa asked in a hushed tone.

"Hmm, maybe a little," Annie admitted as she put her head on Mikasa's chest, sighing as she did.

"Want me to get you water and painkillers?" Mikasa offered.

Annie made a kind of grunt that was definitely meant as a no before saying, "just stay where you are."

"Okay," Mikasa whispered back as she rested her chin on Annie's forehead.

A while later, there was a knock on the door, and Annie grunted as she rolled away from Mikasa. "Come in," Mikasa said.

"Morning," Eren said in a sleepy voice.

"Morning," Mikasa greeted.

"They told me to get you to cook something," he said, stumbling over his words from the lack of effort he was putting into talking.

"I'll be down soon," she assured him, and he nodded before closing the door.

Once the door was closed, Mikasa got out of bed and walked to her bag of clothes, looking for something to wear for the day. It didn't take her long to decide on a simple hoodie and leggings, and she wasted no time stripping off her clothes from the previous day.

"Hmm," she heard Annie hum from the bed, and Mikasa couldn't help but snort. Of course, she knew the blonde would be watching her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. They had gym together as well as soccer, so it's not like it's anything she'd never seen before.

After she was dressed in her new clothes for the day, Mikasa kissed Annie's head and said, "Come down soon or starve."

"Rude," Annie huffed as Mikasa walked out the door, but she heard Annie getting out of bed.

Once downstairs, Mikasa went straight to the kitchen. Everyone was awake except for Reiner, Bertholdt, Sasha, and Connie. Ymir seemed like she was half-asleep on the couch, but at least she was there with everyone.