"Why does he always leave us, Armin? Why does he always leave...me?" Mikasa croaked, choked up in her tears. Armin gently placed his hand on her shoulder as she sniffled into her worn, red scarf. After a while, Mikasa's silent sobs ebbed away, and they sat in contemplative silence on the soft, white sand of the beach, each lost in their own feelings of pain and loss.
By the time Mikasa realized that a brilliant blue wave of seawater had escaped towards them, it was too late. They were subsequently drenched, soaked to the skin by the salty water they had discovered a few years earlier. Armin yelped and jumped up, vigorously shaking himself free of water droplets, worried about ruining his newly issued black ODM uniform. Mikasa remained seated on the damp sand and let out a squeak of laughter, quickly covering her mouth with her scarf after she realized what she'd done. Armin froze and gave Mikasa a wide-eyed look.
It had been quite some time since he'd heard that sound, ever since Eren vanished without a word. Even though it lasted for a mere moment, the sound surged within him a feeling of serenity that he didn't know he was missing. She gazed back at Armin with her dark, saddened eyes, a small sparkle slowly returning to them. She slowly pulled down her scarf and gave him a tentative, rigid smile, and he was transported back to the day they first came to the beach, back when they believed that the worst of their ordeal was over. This time, however, he did not smile back.
Mikasa's cheeks flushed, quickly pulling the scarf back over her smile, all the sparkle in her eyes skittering away. Armin knelt down next to her and reached out a pale, shaking hand to gently pull her scarf down. Mikasa turned to look at him, shock and surprise flooding her features. The water lapped at their exposed toes, and it felt to Armin that they were encouraging him, filling him with the bravery he needed to continue. As he cupped Mikasa's wet cheek in his shaking hand, the sunlight seemed to bounce perfectly off her features, making her midnight hair look almost golden and illuminating the scar on her face. She was beautiful.
He already knew this, of course, but after coming to terms with her steadfast longing for Eren all these years, he'd forced himself to see her as nothing more than a friend. But now, in this moment, he desperately hoped that all of that would change. Mikasa reached up and placed a hand over his, and his hand stilled.
He stroked her scar, tracing the outline of it with his thumb. He slowly leaned in, pressing his lips to hers only after he was certain she wasn't giving any indication of rejecting him. Still, she froze against him, and he half expected to get violently pushed away, but instead, he felt Mikasa lean into him, deepening the kiss. Warmth and pure bliss overwhelmed him, and as he pulled away and opened his eyes, he saw that the sparkle had returned to Mikasa's eyes. He finally returned the smile she'd been seeking, comically stretching out his mouth as far as it could go, and another tinkle of laughter burst from within her as she smiled back.
