One Cup of Sugar || Sasha x Niccolo

21 - Backward Puzzle

AN: I want to start by saying thank you to everyone for all of the support on this fic. We've now reached 1000 reads and that number is insane to me. I never imagined in a million years that people would enjoy my writing and enjoy the little thoughts and scenarios, much less take hours out of their day to read and comment on them. The support I receive every day from here and my following on TikTok make me incredibly happy. Your reads, votes, and comments mean the world to me and make my heart so warm. I love you guys so so so much. Thank you to each and every one of you.

Here is an extra long fluffy chapter for you guys. Buckle up! It's over 10,000 words.

I hope you guys enjoy it because this is my favorite chapter so far. <3

Don't forget to comment and vote!

- J

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Sashas POV:

Dinner was spent with the three of us talking about how my day went...minus the detail about Nic. It hurt me to lie to them and not tell them, but they'll know eventually when I'm ready to tell them. They would understand once everything came out in the open, I knew it. 

"So, what was the professor like?" Connie looks up at me from across the kitchen table. He was directly across from me with Jean on my right. 

"Oh, they are the coolest! They had these huge art pieces of these abnormally sized humans causing havoc on humanity, it's an interesting metaphor, you know?" I take a bite out of my food, "They were also super nice and complimented a couple of pieces I did. It felt nice to be complimented by a professional." 

"Can we see?" Jean leans forward, squinting at me. 

I widen my eyes, suddenly embarrassed. I never really showed anyone my art, and it was kind of humiliating to have someone sit there and see something you've done. All the flaws and mistakes would sit there and burn into you as they looked at it. Of course, you knew they probably wouldn't see them, but it didn't help. 

"Oh- uh do you want to?" My eyes shift between the two as I feel my face warm up. 

"Of course? I haven't seen anything you've done in almost two years." Connie nods. 

"Okay," I get up from the table, going over to the countertop where my bag was. I pull out the black sketchbook, flipping to the newer pages. 

"This is what I was working on today before class," I pull out the unfinished sketch of Mikasa holding the brownie mix box. The pencil markings were light as I was being so careful to keep this perfect. The outline of the sketch was done, and I was currently working on shading and making sure the detailing of her face captured her perfectly. 

"It's Mikasa. We've gotten super close." I turn the sketchbook around, watching as Connie and Jean both leaned into it. Their eyes scanned it carefully, both taking the entirety of it in. 

"Wow," Jean starts, cutting himself off. 

"Sash, this is amazing! You did this today?" Connie's eyes don't move from the sketch. 

"Yeah," I slouch forward slightly, feeling embarrassed, "I had a little bit of time before class, and I just decided to sketch this photo."

"What's the context of the photo?" Connie looks at me, "It looks like it was a great time." 

I swallowed uncomfortably, knowing I couldn't be honest with him. I couldn't tell him that the only reason I took that photo was because I wanted to tease Niccolo. I wasn't ready for them to know about all of that. As much as I love them, I wasn't confident enough in my...whatever me and him had. We didn't have a label, which is what I wanted, but I couldn't figure out what he was.