The sun streamed in the living room windows, casting it's warm glow across my face. I rolled over to attempt to get the light out of my hungover eyes, then fell off the edge of the couch onto an unfortunate person below me.

The loud thump shook the house and Armin's alarmed yelp woke up the others that were asleep around us. A chorus of groans and curses sounded form the seven or eight people around me.

"Eren! What'd you do that for?" his voice still slurred from sleeping and his blonde chin-length hair was messy.

"Oh god, my head hurts. What happened last night? "

I thought on it as I gazed at the trashed house around me.

"Reiner's house." I managed before scrambling up back on the couch, "That party was fucking wild."

Armin whimpered and covered his eyes with his arm, "What time is it?"

"Stop talking! Some of us are trying to sleep here!" Someone snapped.

I lowered my voice to a whisper, "Come on, man. We need to get you home."

He groaned again as I lifted him to his feet by his underarms, "I didn't sign up for this-"

"From what I can remember, you didn't even want to be here"

His eyes widened and he shot upright, "Why am I here then!? I thought you said we were going to a birthday party! "

A deep chuckle sounded front the dining room doorway, "Ah, but it was."

We turned to see who the person was that spoke and saw Bertoldt, "You two off already?"

I nodded and Armin high tailed it out the front door.

"You okay to drive?" Bertoldt raised his eyebrows at me, "You drank quite a lot last night..."

I rubbed my forehead, attempting to remember through the haze, "Yeah, I'm okay to drive. Hungover as hell, but I'll make it."

He quirked his eyebrow but had no further comment. I turned to the doors and smirked at the memories of last night.

At one point, I could recall I had met an angry and stormy-grey-eyed man named Levi, showered with a bottle of Jack and helped toss the dining room table into the pool to make a raft.

I chuckled aloud, getting in the driver's seat and snapping my seat belt into place.

I had convinced Armin to go to to Reiner's Birthday party at Bertoldt's place. That was a monumental task in itself because Armin was not a party-going lad. Jean had specifically requested I bring Armin this time because apparently there was a guy who wanted to meet him.

It wasn't the party he was obviously expecting because the second we pulled up the large, two-story mansion-like house pulsing with EDM and flashing lights, his bright blue eyes widened in surprise.

"Sounds like a party in there!" I smirked and parked next to a Mercedes 500 SL and a Cadillac CTSV in the massive driveway.

"I am NOT touching ANY alcohol." he had firmly stated and eyed the expensive vehicles as we rushed up the path. "You aren't driving if you even TOUCH a cup of the stuff."

We stepped in the front doors, greeted by girls in skimpy dresses, kegs of beer, red solo cups and the pungent stench of pot.

"Why are we even here? Who even invited you to this? We don't belong at a rich frat party! We're broke college students-"

"Most of the kids here are too."

Armin spun around at the sound of Jean Keirstein's voice, "This is just Bertoldt's way of celebrating Reiner's birthday! Isn't this fucking great!" he raised his voice and his cup making the people around cheer loudly in agreement.

I put my hand on Armin's shoulder as Jean handed each of us our own cups, "Take it easy, Armin. A few drinks won't hurt you." I winked and waded through the crowd that was writhing to the beat of Deadmau5.

The back patio area was coated in face smothering couples, laughing potheads and drunken assholes wading in the pool.

One of the dark haired guys in the circle passed me a freshly lit blunt as I walked by.

"Thanks, man." I nodded and took a massive hit, then coughed in reply.

My phone rang as I recovered, the small screen had Mikasa's unsmiling face pop up.

"Where are you at?" Her almost monotone voice immediately inquired on the other end, "You better not be out drinking without a ride home again. I can't pick you up this time-"

"It's fine. I'm crashing here tonight anyway. Keirstein and Bertoldt Ok'd it."

There was a pause, "Where are you at?"

"Reiner's house party."

Another pause, "I'm on my way."

"Eh, what?" I sputtered in surprise, "You're coming to a house party?" Mikasa wasn't one to party. She had grown wary of it after all my partying began.

"Sounds like fun." Was her simple reply before the line went dead.

I heaved a sigh, took another hit and found the group I was looking for.

Connie was seated in Sasha's lap, Annie was hitting a blue and violet bong, Marco was sitting staring off onto space, and a short man stood off to the side, addressing Annie.

"Hey bitches," I waved and the group smiled in greeting, "Sorry that I'm late. I had to pick up Armin."

"Armin's here? How the hell did you manage that one, Jeager?" Annie exhaled a massive cloud of smoke as she spoke.

"I told him that this was a birthday party." I gestured to the house, "I wasn't lying!"

The group cackled maniacally as Marco passed the bong to the short man, who finally took a seat among the group.

"You little shit!" Sasha exclaimed, pointing at me, "He's got 'work to do'!"

The short guy took a hit and passed the bong to Sasha.

"And by work to do you mean sit on his ass and read books irrelevant to any courses he's taking?" Connie snarked.

"Hey, don't knock on the bookworm, " the short man snapped and I studied him as he stood with narrowed eyes.

His black hair was an undercut, his eyes were stunningly grey and his expression was a permanent scowl. He had black 00 plugs in his lobes, his left arm had a tribal style tattoo that ended at his elbow and his sparkling eyebrow piercing drew a person's gaze to his breathtaking eyes.

"The fuck're you staring at, brat?" He quizzed, quirking that pierced eyebrow, "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

I huffed, "Nothing impressive, that's for sure." I instantly regretted it.

Sasha budged in loudly, "OOOKKKAAAY, let me introduce you guys before you two fuck. Levi, Eren. Eren, Levi." She gestured between the two of us; our dagger glares never wavered.

"I'm not fucking a smart-mouthed shitty brat. I'm not staying for a fucking stupidass party, either-"

"No, you better stay. I might need you for an errand later." Jean interrupted the now tense group, "Eren, don't be such an asshole."

I took a defiant step in Jean's direction, "I'm not being an asshole. He was first."

Mikasa made her way between Levi and myself, "How about we all stop being childish and have fun? This is a party after all." Her stoic face made no indication she was enjoying any part of being there.

Levi exhaled loudly, irritation showing in his eyes.

I glanced at Jean then muttered, "I need another drink." He rolled his eyes in response and Mikasa's hand was on my shoulder. She shook her head.

When we were a good distance away, Mikasa began her interrogation, "What happened between you and Levi? Did you two fight or something? Do I need to go kick his short ass?"

I snorted, "No, Mikasa. Nothing happened. Jean and the others just don't know that I work with him or that I've met Levi before."

"You two make shit so complicated." She sighed but brought up no further question.

Sometime between me winning beer pong and smoking a few grams with Levi, Jean approached me in concern.

"Where's Armin?"

I polished off the last of my drink and set the cup on the counter, "I thought he was with you?"

"I haven't seen him in two hours or so-"

My heart sank and I jumped up, "Where was the last place you saw him?"

"Upstairs I think. I already looked and he wasn't there."

"I'm checking anyway." I flew up the stairs to the dimly lit second floor, "Dammit, Armin."

The second floor was the same as the rest of the house. Painted a soft tan with light wooden floors and delicately carved white crown molding.

The first door I came to I knew Armin wasn't going to be in there. Loud moans and a repetitive thump on the walls made Jean snort as he came up behind me.

"Okay, he's not going to be in an orgy room. Go check those rooms over there." I gestured across the hall and Jean Keirstein's hysterical laughter echoed around us.

We opened a few more doors before I began to panic more. "Are you sure he didn't leave?" I addressed Jean again after a long moment of silence.

He shook his head, "We closed the gates so nobody could leave. 'Unless they're sober or dying' are the only circumstances people are allowed to leave."

Shattering glass from downstairs made us both jump, "I hope nobody's dying, anyway." He tore down the stairs, leaving me to continue my quest for Armin alone.

The next door I stood in front of was cracked open a few centimeters, light winking brilliantly on the glass doorknob.

I listened closely to a deep voice that spoke soothingly, "It'll all turn out fine. Getting out of the house is what a person needs before a big test like that."

I heard Armin's voice pipe up next, "But still. I should be studying for the organic chemistry finals. There's parts of that that I was pretty shaky on earlier this semester." I silently pushed the door open enough for me to see the two sitting on a sofa facing a large window that looked over the pandemonium in the backyard. Armin's blonde, almost coconut style hair shook around in dismay. The man next to him looked a bit bemused.

He was handsome, that was the first thing I noticed. The second thing was that the man was at least twice Armin's age.

His soft blonde hair was combed neatly around his head, his jaw was strong and his blue eyes spoke volumes. He would have been intimidating with his large build, but he spoke with such a soothing tone it made him nearly approachable.

"Organic chemistry isn't as hard as you think it'd be."

Armin shook his head again, "Something bothers me about it. The chemical formulas are an easy concept to understand but-"

I tuned out of the smart talk, smiled and stepped back. At least he was socializing.

"Eren," Jean's voice came from behind me, "Did you find him?"

I nodded and pointed to the door, "Yeah, he's in here."

He looked in then said in surprise, "Oh, I didn't know Erwin had even shown up."

"That guy is Erwin? How old is he? He doesn't look like he belongs at a college party." I smirked.

"He's Bertoldt's neighbor. He's a cop." Jean wiggles his eyebrows, "Before you freak, he's cool."

My head had turned so fast it had popped painfully.

"A cop?"

Jean brought yet another can of booze his lips casually, "Yeah man. He's cool though."

"Who's cool?" Mikasa reappeared by my side when we reached the bottom of the stairs.

"Erwin."

"Yeah, he is pretty nice for a cop."

"He just lets you guys throw parties like this?" I gestured to the massive group of underaged teens with blunts tucked behind their ears and alcohol in hand. "I mean, come on."

Bertoldt strode up and dove into our conversation, brown eyes lit up like Christmas, "Yeah, free beer and a good chunk of change can get you places in this world."

Before I could reply, I heard someone yell, "Watch it asshole!" Then the sound of someone getting punched.

Someone was roughly shoved into my back, making me yelp and catch Jean's shoulder for balance.

"What the fuck?" Levi's snarl was cold, making me shiver. This was bad.

Someone gasped and I heard a few punches connect with someone else's face. The string of swears I heard were so vile they even made Bertoldt cringe uncomfortably. I turned around quick, watching Levi throw his attacker to the floor and plant the toe of his boot into the guy's teeth.

The force of the kick knocked the guy out cold and the massive amount of 'oooh's' and cheers made my head throb.

I roughly grabbed Levi by the shoulders and led him away from the huge crowd that had formed.

"Damn! Levi! What was that all about?" I gritted my teeth and shoved Levi into the bathroom past the massive kitchen area.

"What're you getting onto me for? That little shit started it so I ended it." He wasn't even out of breath.

"Levi-" I started the stopped when he turned to face me.

"What?" He drew his eyebrows together in question.

Blood dripped from an open split in his eyebrow.

"You're missing the eyebrow ring now. Looks like he tore it out." I cringed at the thought.

He went quiet, hand pressing into the torn skin.

"Now that you mention it, it does hurt a tad bit."

I rolled my eyes and pushed him to sit on the edge of the tub and I closed the door to help bring down the noise level.

"Wow, when did the little shit even hit me?" He closed his eyes in confusion, "I don't remember him hitting me."

"You're stoned, he's drunk, neither of you probably remember." I snorted, pulling a medical kit from under the sink.

"I'm not stoned anymore." He looked me in the eye, "My damn shirt is ruined now. Goddammit."

He wore his usual attire of a white button up shirt and a black vest with dark skinny jeans and his combat boots.

"Aw, I rather liked that ensemble" I snickered while pressing a rag doused in warm water to his eyebrow.

The silence hung heavy as I swiped the blood from his cheek, his eyes were distant and his expression never wavered. I attempted to focus on keeping the blood from smearing further across his pale skin but my mind wandered to how soft his skin was.

"You know," he broke the silence before I spoke, "I didn't want to come to a stupidass party in the first place."

A smirk worked itself across my face, "As you said earlier."

The quiet resumed, less heavy and much more comfortable for the both of us.

"All patched up!" I proclaimed proudly when I had finished.

"I need a shower. I can smell the blood and it's almost sickening." He wrinkled his nose as he began to remove his vest and shirt.

"I'll go see if I can get you a clean shirt." I averted my gaze awkwardly and left the bathroom.

Oh, those pecks took the breath out of me. I could imagine myself running my hands over them-

I snarled under my breath at myself. I was NOT going to think that way about my boss. No.

I had gotten to the backyard before I finally ran into the guys.

"Hey hey hey! Eren my man! Where'd you take Levi?" Bertoldt smiled with amusement and pointedly looked at me. Reiner's eyebrow quirked up.

"I had him leave for a walk." I lied easily, "He needs a new shirt. The one he was wearing is ruined."

"Ohhohoho." Connie snorted, "Looks like you owe me twenty, Annie."

"Damn," she scoffed and pulled out a bill and handed it to Connie.

The whole group looked at me expectantly. I finally got what they had made a bet on.

"Oh god, no guys. That's not it at all!" I jumped in irritation, blood rushed up to my face. "That punk tore out his eyebrow piercing and I helped him take care of it." I cringed at the looks they gave one another.

"C'mon, Eren. We're not as stupid as we look." Sasha's eyes sparkled.

Much to my chagrin, none of them took my story seriously.

"Oh my fucking god guys. Seriously Levi needs a different shirt! The one he had was covered in blood-"

Jean looked uneasy, "Well, whatever happened doesn't matter at the moment. You'd better keep him away from that guy and his groupies. They're pissed about what he did."

"The kid hit Levi first." Marco's gentle voice cut in. "Someone bumped into Levi, making him bump into that one guy and he just flipped."

"I get your point Marco, but Levi didn't have to knock the guy out." Jean mumbled into his cup, "I'll go get him a shirt."

Jean walked away and Marco followed suit. I stood awkwardly with the group and studied the backyards large deck and pool area. The landscaping accented the large pool that a group of obnoxious broads that were tossing a basketball around and yelling like idiots.

"Hey, kid." A voice I didn't recognize broke me from my thoughts, "Is he Eren?"

I turned to see a flustered guy addressing Bertoldt and Reiner.

"Why?" I studied the kid, "Who's asking?"

The kid took a drunken step toward me, "Where's that short asshole at?"

I looked at him like he was stupid, "Who's asking?" I snarled again and the guy swung at me but I caught it and redirected his weight. He fell into the pool before he could react to my dodging his punch.

His sputtering was barely audible from the pool as Reiner, Bertoldt, and Annie rushed to my side.

"You've had an exciting evening, haven't you, Eren?" I hear Mikasa note behind me. "First I hear you lost Armin, then you drag Levi away from a fight. Now this."

She hauled me away from the group, asking me where I went with Levi and Jean handed me a grey t-shirt as they passed, "This one'll fit, probably."

"But seriously, I've always known you're gay, but, with Levi?" She continued.

I ground my teeth together in anger, "It's not what you think, Mikasa. Not at all-"

"Mikasa!" I heard Armin's voice somewhere in the crowd.

"I have to go get this to Levi." I said through my teeth. "I'll catch up with you later."

My irritation grew as I made my way to the bathroom. Why the HELL would the group accuse me of doing something with Levi? I'm not going to do anything of the sort with him. He's just my friend and he's my boss in a way. He's much older than I am. How old is he?

My brain was working in staccato thoughts as I approached the door and turned the knob.

What I saw next knocked me breathless.