Guardian

one, I guess

Her legs were heavy, and her head sagged. The seasons were changing, and Mia was freezing cold. She was on her way back to her favorite park where she chose to sleep regularly. Mia doesn't believe in God but it's an absolute miracle that nothing seriously awful has happened to her in the past few weeks of being on her own. Mia used to live in foster care and children's homes up until a little while ago. That was up until someone smacked her. She smacked the woman right back, but her little baby fingers did nothing other than piss off the woman more. Mia ran and hadn't looked back. It was a personal goal to be independent anyways. After multiple trials of other parks, Mia decided this park was her favorite. It had a good amount of streetlights and huge oak trees to shield her from the wind and rain, but still kept her cool on warmer days, which are rare since its the middle of November now. The best part about this park is that had the best bench. Mias bench. It was the comfiest one she's ever slept on. She is mid step when she freezes. 'Oh no', She thinks to herself. There is some large man with big eyebrows sitting on Mias bench. She takes a deep breath and stands casually by a tree for a couple minutes, but the large man didn't move an inch. Sighing quietly, Mia stomps over and takes a seat on the edge of her bench.

"I was wondering when you were going to stop hiding in the shadows and come join me" he said without even glancing her way.

Mia stiffens and side eyes the big guy. He had a big sharp nose to match his harsh eyebrows.

She scoffs, "I didn't come to join YOU. You're sitting on MY bench." She says, trying to sound as grown up as possible. She feels so small next to him, even her giant ego was shrinking. Mia crosses her arms and legs, stretching her back to look bigger, trying to intimidate him.

It didn't work.

He chuckled after taking notice of her posture, "Oh I didn't realize this was YOUR bench, I was just sitting here enjoying the silence until some little creep came and started staring at me from the shadows."

Mia blushes and glares at the ground. So, he noticed her. Maybe she isn't as sneaky as she thinks.

"What's your name, kid?" He asks, looking at her.

Mia's eyes meet his own and they were looking pretty mean. Erwin didn't know children could look so scary.

"Why do you want to know?" She says, glaring at him.

"I just thought since we're both here, we might as well introduce ourselves." He says, trying to sound as neutral as possible. He can't help but feel a little impressed by her. She was a strange little one.

Her face softened slightly.

"My names Mia."

"Nice to meet you Mia, I'm Erwin." He holds out his hand for her to shake. She stares at him for a second before accepting the gesture. Erwin watches as she takes notice of his uniform.

"How old are you, Mia?"

"I'm five, how old are you? You look pretty old."

He chuckles to himself at her bluntness before responding, "I don't think I look that old, I'm twenty-eight." She nodded her head at his response before asking a question of her own.

"Why are you wearing that? Are you some kind of military man?"

"Yes actually, I am. I just became a squad leader in the army."

"That's pretty cool. I just retired from the army. You know they like em' young." she said shaking her head as if she had the wisdom of seven judgmental elders.

Erwin's eyes widen as he snorts in surprise. He looks at her and decides to play along.

"Oh really? Well, thank you for your service."