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Mikasa and Annie were the biggest rivals on the playground.
When they were within five feet of each other, everyone knew they should probably go play somewhere else.
The playground duties were, well, it seemed silly to say they were afraid of two first-grade girls, but they were.
So one early spring morning, during recess, Mikasa was very happily sitting at the top of the jungle gym, surveying the entire playground with a queenly air about her. There was Eren and Armin, sitting against the wall with a book, poor Eren, he was such a good friend. Connie and Sasha were behind the slide, probably trying to eat bark again, about to get yelled at by Mr. Levi.
She shuddered at the thought.
Mr. Levi was scary. Ms. Ral was nice though! She brought kids cupcakes on their birthdays.
Anyway, she could see Ymir yelling at Reiner for scaring Historia, Bertholdt and Historia off to the side. She could see everyone but Annie.
Mikasa’s eyes narrowed.
Annie was dangerous. She was the only one who never listened to her. Where was she?
“Mikasa! Get off the top, I wanna sit there!”
Mikasa looked down at Annie, sitting a few rungs down, and smiled.
“No.”
Annie stared at her, blue eyes cold, brushing a piece of hair out of her face with a small hand.
“Yes.”
She climbed up further, avoiding Mikasa trying to kick her, and stopped at the very last bar, scooting closer to her.
“Get down, Mikasa, I want a turn.”
Mikasa looked her straight in the eye, and pushed her.
“Annie, fall.”
Annie lost her balance, solemn expression turning indignant, glaring at her.
She hit the ground with a loud thump, attracting Petra’s attention, the playground duty rushing over to see if the small blonde child was okay.
(Annie will hurt you if you mention that she started crying.)
Petra helped Annie up, picking the bark out of the shallow scrapes on her palms, and set her hands on her hips as she stared at Mikasa.
“Mikasa, get down here. Now.”
Her grey eyes went wide, and she started to climb down hurriedly.
Ms. Ral never yelled at anyone unless she was very, very upset with them.
Oh no.
She jumped from a few rungs up, landing softly, head down, and Petra sighed.
“Mikasa, we have talked about this. You know you need to share. And you need to be nice to Annie. Will you say sorry?”
Annie crossed her arms, frowning, and Mikasa raised her head to look at her.
“Sorry, Annie.”
With a sniff, Annie accepted her apology.
---
Ten years later, Annie and Mikasa were down at their elementary school, walking around together for the sake of nostalgia.
“Annie, remember that time I pushed you from the top of the jungle gym?”
“Which one?”
“First grade.”
Annie paused in her examination of their old playground, looking at Mikasa, who was sitting up at the top of the jungle gym with a smile.
“We really hated each other then, didn’t we?”
“Nah, not that much. You were just the only one who even came close to being as good as me at anything. It scared me.”
Annie laughed, climbing up with ease, pushing her way into Mikasa’s lap, the two of them perched up there together.
“You’re an idiot, you know that, right?”
“You seem to tell me that a lot.”
Mikasa kissed Annie’s head with a smile, putting her hands in Annie’s jacket pocket.
“This is a lot easier, don’t you think?”