#pikkupokko

That’s all she said about the signal at the time, and he hadn’t bothered to ask her about it. If she said he would know it when he saw it, then he would. When word of Gabi and Falco’s whereabouts surfaced and it had been announced that the Jaegerists were on the move, Pieck left to fulfill her duty while the other stayed behind, disguised in the military uniforms that the soldiers on Paradis wore, and waited for the signal. The others pressed Porco for details on the signal - when Pieck would give it and what it would be - but Porco didn’t answer. He didn’t know what it was then, and he still doesn’t know what it is now. If he knew, he wouldn’t be on edge like they are.

He tries his best not to shift around uncomfortably or appear suspicious, but it’s difficult when he’s wearing such a stiff and constricting uniform. But that’s just an excuse. Even if he were not wearing this awful coat, he’d still be anxious and uncomfortable as he waited for the signal. He hates this feeling of not knowing what will happen. He tries his best to stay calm, but he can feel his heart beating faster and faster with every second that passes. Even as he tries to blend in with the others, trying to blend in with the Jaegerists and barking at the Eldians as they are separated between those that have ingested Zeke’s spinal fluid and those that haven’t, but he’s distracted. His eyes constantly flicker between the Eldians being rounded up and the door where Pieck should be arriving. The others are also watching him, glancing over at him every once in a while, wondering if the signal will come soon, but he’s just as clueless as they are.

There’s a commotion at the front of the room, and Porco finally sees her. Like him, the others turn their head when they see her walk through the door. The Jaegerists watch her carefully, wondering how a warrior of Marley could have slipped in their midst without them noticing. Porco keeps his eyes fixated on Pieck as well, ignoring the whispers of others. He’s deaf to the comments about Pieck and her loyalty to Marley - whether she has joined the Jaegerists in their revolution or not - and he worries not about the handcuffs that are fastened on hers and Gabi’s wrists. She knows exactly what she’s doing, and he trusts her.

The others watch anxiously as Pieck ascends the stairs with Gabi, but Porco is calm now that she is within his sight. The guns pointed at her back don’t even bother him, and the appearance of Eren Jaeger, the one leading the way, does not bother him either. Although he wants nothing more than to follow her up the stairs and to the roof, he remains rooted to his spot because he knows his place is here. Carefully, he observes Pieck’s every movement - the way she walks, the expression on her face, the way she holds her head - searching for any sign of the signal she had said she would give him. When she stops near the top of the stairs, turning towards those that are watching down below, he feels his stomach tighten in anticipation.

“Let’s all get along,” she says. Pieck holds her hands above her head as she addresses the others. On her face is a smile, and the sight of it causes the others around Porco to tense up, but this isn’t the signal. He’ll know it when he sees it.

Pieck turns to continue up the stairs, and Porco can feel glances on his back as his comrades wonder why he had not transformed yet. Had they not been surrounded by Jaegerists, he’s sure someone would have taken him by the collar and shaken him by now. It’s not time yet though, he’s certain of that. She hadn’t given him the signal yet.

He concentrates on the conversation being held above them. It’s difficult when they reach the roof, but he can’t follow her up there lest he arouses suspicion. Porco does his best to approach the stairs without attracting attention. He only dares to stay at the foot of the stairs and pretends to observe the Eldians as the half infected with spinal fluid are carted away. His focus on the words that are being spoken on the roof. From where he stands, he cannot make out the words, but he can hear their voices.

It’s taking too long, he thinks. His peers think so too. He can tell by the impatient glances they cast as they look between him and the rooftop. The back of his neck prickles in anticipation, and he can feel beads of sweat dripping down his forehead. There is no guarantee that Pieck’s plan will go accordingly. A part of him wishes to strike now, but he knows the time is not right. When it’s the right time, Pieck will give the signal. He trusts her.

Then he hears it, Pieck’s voice ringing out clear as a bell out on the rooftop. It carries through the stairs below and echoes through the room. In response to Eren Jaeger’s question - Where is the enemy? - and her voice unwavering as she answers, “There.”

He moves without hesitation, using a dagger in his pocket to slash his hand. A bolt of lightning strikes and he feels the electricity coursing through his entire body as his Titan materializes around him. He doesn’t bother with stairs in his monstrous form. Instead, he leaps up, his jaw opening up to break through the stone ceiling. The stones crumble as he crashes upward through the roof, and the people down below scatter. He had approximated where Eren would be standing, and he sees the enemy in the corner of his eye as he clamps his jaws down on Eren’s body. Confident, Porco bites down, but he’s miscalculated. He’s only managed to remove Eren’s legs - not his nape as he had wanted - and there’s a flash of light as Eren transforms.

“Reinforcements are coming!” he hears Pieck say, and he sees that the Marley airships are sailing above them, ready to strike. When he glances back at Pieck, she is looking at him, the wrist that she has shackled to Gabi’s. “Porco!”

Porco never thought too much of the holidays, it was just a time where he was “obligated” to go and visit all the relatives he didn’t remember from the previous years and pretend he was someone he wasn’t. That was, up until collage, when he had the excuse of being exhausted by classes to finally be allowed to stay at home. He didn’t care much about the presents either, he would ALWAYS make sure to get a good amount of things for Marcel, and Marcel would do the same. The two would spoil themselves with candies and new games and toys. That was the only good thing for him.

After making sure Marcel ate the soup Sasha had cooked up and getting his sick older brother comfortable in his upstairs room, Porco came back down with Sasha. He thanked her for all the work she put into the soup and for helping dim the room so Marcel could sleep off his cold. She looked surprised by his very kind and light tone, but smiled and said it was all fine.

“Pokko, what a cute face you’re making!” came a voice from the other end of the hallway.

Pieck leaned in the archway, a sweet smile on her face. Porco eyed her up for a second, a look of mild embarrassment adorning his features.

“I’ve never heard you sound so sincere too! Thank you Sasha, for making him sooooo happy!” She said, a hint of teasing in her voice. Porco’s face flared up, tinting it red. He was far too proud to admit that even seeing Marcel’s face light up at the sight of the fresh soup was enough to warm his heart and hush his worries. But Pieck knew. She could read him like a book.

Sasha covered her mouth, trying to not let a laugh escape when she gazed upon Porco’s rosey face. He was quick to leave the hall, heading to the living room. He heard faint giggling and hushed talking, they were probably teasing him, but whatever. He’s allowed to care for his brother, his older brother that guided him through his hectic life and kept him on the right path.

Whatever.

Pieck entered the living room, spotting Porco unraveling the coloured lights. She sighed happily, glad that he had still decided to help her finish up the decorating.

“Hows that coming along?” She asked. He twitched and turned to peer at her; probably didn’t hear her come in.

“You done making fun of me?” He snapped back. There was only little salt in his tone, he knew that Pieck spoke to him in a certain way, and it was fine, she was more than tolerable.

“Pokko! I’d never make fun of you! I was just teasing!” She answered. He rolled his eyes dramatically, to which she stifled a snicker.

“Yeah yeah, sure....even though those are the same thing...” He said under his breath. Pieck made a little noise, so he knew she heard him. She began digging through one of the boxes that was left on the floor. Apparently Bertholdt and Marco were supposed to decorate the front of the house and were in the middle of doing so until they were dragged out by Reiner and Jean, respectively. Pieck knew exactly why. Porco just figured they were lazy asses.

Letting out a deep sigh, Porco held up the now unraveled lights, gaining Piecks attention.

“Help me hang these up?” He asked. He got a nod and a smile in return.

I was times like these where he wished he was tall like Bert. Getting the lights up the giant tree was an absolute pain. There was a few more feet of it left to get up to the top and neither of them were reaching that. Porco stopped for a second, looking to the tree, and then to Pieck.

“Here, hold on-” He began and he scooped Pieck off her feet and held her bridal style. “Do me a favor and use me to climb up.”

Pieck, without hesitation did just that, to Porco’s surprise. Of course she wouldn’t stare at him and start blushing, or comment on his strength, or kiss him. nOT LIKE HE WANTED THAT TO HAPPEN EITHER BUT....She situated herself on his shoulders and he held her legs firmly. It didn’t take too long to finish wrapping the full length of cord around the tree, covering the whole thing in lights. Porco knelt down slowly and placed Pieck’s feet onto the floor for her. She quickly turned in place and helped him up.

“Thank you! That went way better than I thought it would.” She look up at their handy work, proud of this accomplishment.

“Yeah, at least Bert and Marco got the fuzzy plastic crap on there already.” Porco remarked.

They dug through the boxes, hanging up the many ornaments everyone had brought together. The tree would be covered head to toe by the time they were done, and there would STILL be left over ornaments.

The sound of shoes hitting the floor and the front door swinging open alerted them to Connie’s return from the store, but what Porco was most worried about was all of the warm air going strait outside.

“CLOSE THE DAMN DOOR-”“WELCOME BACK, CONNIE!”

Porco was interrupted by Pieck leaning on his shoulders to greet Connie. When he replied back, Pieck tapped Porco’s shoulders and went back to her designated box. He glared at her.

After finding the box that held the “fuzzy plastic crap”, as Porco claimed it was called, the two of them stopped what they were doing and brought it over to sit on the mantle of the fireplace. Porco took the clock down for a moment so it wouldn’t get knocked off and slid the “fuzzy plastic crap” back against the bricks, replacing the clock when Pieck had done the same to the other side.

“Looks nice.” She complimented.

“Looks like a waste of time.” Porco added. Pieck looked at him, and when he met her gaze he corrected himself, “It just looks fake and dumb, we shoulda gone and got the green stuff that looks like pine needles or something....”

She blinked, a new expression washing over her face until she nodded, agreeing. “Maybe next year.”

And it was quiet. Except for the sound of voices coming from the kitchen, but that was fine. Porco sighed. He didn’t hate decorating or anything, he was just mad because everyone else pretty much left him there to decorate. He’d have to make sure to get back at Reiner and Jean for stealing the two people who loved doing this stuff.

He wanted to take her out. A nice dinner, a nice walk, a nice skate, something.... But, Marcel was sick and he had to take care of him, and then the other’s ditched, so he had to take care of the decorations, and decorating pissed him off because a date isn’t doing some stupid chores when they could be eating or walking or skating...or SOMETHING.

He felt a hand on his shoulder and craned his head to look over his shoulder.

“So we’re running out of room, but I like these clean, clear ones. I wish I found them sooner, but I can fit about one more on the tree I think, but which one?” Pieck asked, holding a golden ball and a green ball in her hands. Porco looked between the two. they were just normal ornaments, nothing special about them, really. The were polished, but other than that, nothing amazing.

“Uhh, gold looks good.” He answered. She looked at them both and hummed, lowering the green one and stretching her arm up to place the golden ball onto the tree by it’s hook.

“You know, as long as you’re having fun with someone, I’d still call it a good date.”

Porco froze. The red tint came back to his face. He stood and pivoted in place, facing Pieck as she faced him, her hands in front of her.

“It’s kinda obvious because you’ve been huffing and stomping around all night, especially after everyone else left and also, because you told Marcel, who then asked for advice from Krista and Bertholdt, and then Ymir heard about it and told me....” Pieck trailed off. It took him a second to realize.

“I...uh...nnn...” He stumbled on his words. He was really never good at speaking when it came to such topics. He cleared his throat as Pieck’s patient, understanding eyes watched him. “I just wanted a normal date, not this shit-show, chore bullshit.” He admitted.

She made her way towards him and cupped his hands in her own.

“It’s been nice. It really has.” She looked up at him, a small blush on her cheeks. “Just spending time has been nice. And you, lifting me up to reach the top of the tree, I almost melted in your arms.”

If it was even possible, Porco’s face became even redder.

“So, don’t worry. This has been a beautiful night with you. It’s been quiet, and I rather stay here, close to Marcel to make sure he’s okay.” She said, knowing that was also the reason Porco would be adamant to stay.

“It’s really okay...?” He questioned.

“Yes!” was the response.

He calmed a bit, letting a tiny smile pull at his lips.