Guardian

four, I guess

Five AM, another day off. Erwin lays awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. 'I have a child now. I must play the roll of a parent for a little girl I don't even know yet.' He thinks to himself. It almost feels wrong but his gut tells him that he's making the right decision by keeping her. He stays there in the bed, still, for some time until he hears a loud thud coming from his room. He gets up and opens his door, listening for any crying. All he hears is a small 'ow' and then shuffling.

"Mia? You okay?"

"Yeah," her voice is muffled and quiet. 

Eventually she comes over to the door and opens it. Erwin sees her short self standing there in his shirt and everything feels right. He feels like she is supposed to be with him. He smiles at her and she just stares back. 

"Did you fall off the bed again?" In her defense, it is a tall bed.

"....No." She says with her eyes wide, obviously lying. 

He gives her a questioning look and she looks away before looking back at him with an expression of suspicion. 

Confused he asks, "What is it?"

"Were you trying to come into the room?"

"No. I heard a noise and was coming to check if you were okay. Is that alright with you?"

She glares for a moment, thinking, and scanning his face to see if he's telling the truth and then she nods.

"Thats okay..."

"Good," He nods and gestures towards the stairs, "Would you like to go eat something?"

She just nods and then walks past him to the stairs. Erwin follows her, watching her carefully to make sure she doesn't slip. She seems to be clumsy in the mornings. They walk into the kitchen and he grabs her a bowl for some cereal. 'It's good that we seem to wake up at the same time, it will make my work schedule easier.' She stands in the middle of the kitchen and Erwin has her hold the bowl as he pours some cereal and milk into it, then turns her around by the top of her head to have her go sit. He gives her a spoon and she sits quietly and eats. He nods before getting himself breakfast as well and he sits across from her. They eat quietly together. Erwin sees her watching his eyebrows again with a small smirk on her face and he wiggles his brows to make her laugh. She does and he grins at the sound of her laughter. She's been so quiet, it's nice to hear her laugh. He hopes she's relaxing a bit more now. 

Mia can't help but let out a laugh at his eyebrows again. They're so big. Her smile quickly drops when her brain reminds her of earlier at the park. She can't get the memory of what happened out of her head. She sees his smile drop a bit too and begins to feel bad. She suddenly feels like she ruins things for people. Mia believes no one could want her, no one has ever wanted her before and she doesn't believe what Erwin said. It's never true. You don't get rid of something you want. He said he wants her but it's only a matter of time.

Mia stares down at her cereal and swirls her spoon around. She doesn't want to eat anymore, it's too hard. She can't look at him now. She drops her spoon and stands up, beginning to walk away from him. 

"Mia." 

She turns around but doesn't look at him.

"Take your bowl to the sink please."

Mia just nods and picks up her bowl, walking it over to the counter. She can't reach inside the sink. Stupid tall counters. She stands on her toes to tries to set it down gently but she still can't reach the bottom of the sink. Mia hears him chuckle and she huffs. 

"I can't reach." She says begrudgingly. 

He nods, "I can see that. Go ahead and set it on the counter next to the sink. I can put it in for you. Thank you for trying to be gentle."