Full Summary:

Eren is an incoming freshman at The Scouting Legion Academy mostly because his adopted sister Mikasa had persuaded (deliberately tortured and threatened) him into joining the same high school she would attend. Having no plan B nor a better school to enroll into, he agrees to go to the academy with her and to lead on a quiet life; to start fresh.

However that takes an interesting turn as he meets the star quarterback of the academy's football team, Levi, where many strange things (and feelings) begin to ensue.

Football jock Levi because it's totally relevant.

This is my first contribution to the SNK fandom, and hopefully I'll do the characters justice. Don't know what to tell you to expect. This could be a short thing or a long thing. Depends.

Chapter One

I'm not exactly too fond of being completely clueless of the academy's campus layout. I'm holding the pamphlet they had given out to all incoming freshmen, and I'm beginning to regret the fact that I agreed with Mikasa in coming here in the first place. Whereas Mikasa knew and memorized the campus layout, I was stuck holding the stupid map to my face trying to understand the complex key that was supposed to be telling the reader what each shape symbolized. Instead of helping me get to where my first class was located, it only gave me a solid reminder to never trust myself with a map if I were to go on a journey, because I couldn't comprehend it even if it would save my life.

My poor sense of direction and beginner's luck wasn't the only reason I had my face buried into the pamphlet. I wanted to avoid eye contact with seniors and people in general. My middle school experience wasn't what anyone would call exciting, and let's just say that I got in trouble too many times to count. My lack of social grace and human interactions with the kids in my middle school played a big role in my attempts to hopefully blend into the background during my high school years.

I was never a good kid in middle school. Armin, my best friend since childhood was incredibly smart, and despite all the stereotypes and what stupid lame TV shows suggested, he was pretty popular among the kids. Everyone adored him and his altruistic personality. Mikasa had her looks, and even if she wasn't very talkative, she got along with everyone.

I was the rotten pea in the pod. Armin, Mikasa and I grew up together in the same neighborhood being friends for as long as I remembered, but I was always the one who couldn't fit in. Armin and Mikasa had no trouble fitting in since day one but I struggled to do so. During the first week of school I got into a fight with someone and since then, my reputation wasn't something to be proud of. In my defense, the kid had provoked me and was practically begging to be punched. I did him a favor and broke his nose.

I wasn't a golden student in elementary school either because I constantly picked fights with other kids, or the other way around. It was always over the petty things like having a crayon stolen. But those things were not petty back then. It was something to go to war about when you were four.

I was never good at making friends nor did I ever possess a lithe personality; I was always impetuous and brash.

You could say that my odd way of approaching or talking to people opened up opportunities for kids to bully me, and I was never a popular nor a smart kid. I had trouble getting along with people, and have been that way ever since. It upset my mother a bit, but my father always told me to stop being a wimp and to get quote, unquote out there. He was a doctor with nothing but a bright future ahead of him. It wasn't like he'd understand the problems of an anti-social teenager.

The day I decided to give in and attend The Scouting Legion Academy with Armin and Mikasa, I also told myself to stay out of trouble; which meant I would not let anyone provoke me, and that there will be no nose breaking or crayon stealing.

As far as I could tell, I was nowhere near the classrooms because there was no way that there could be classrooms, or rooms outside in the middle of a field. Really, I should have hurried my pathetic lost ass to the nearest teacher or at least put an effort into going inside one of the many buildings in the campus, but instead I took it upon myself to stall on time. First period started a while ago, and yet here I was (sort of) pretending to be lost.

If I was desparate enough to keep the promise to myself, I should have at least asked a student nearby but I still wanted to keep a low profile. I merely wanted to wake up every morning and blend in with the air, then go to school with nothing bothersome to do. I told myself I would do that everyday for four years until I was out of high school, and to not get involved.

Easier said than done.

I was noticed right away by someone as I passed by them, and I could feel their eyes on me. Sometimes I cursed my height and presence, because no matter how hard one may try, they could only get so far in trying to become the wind- in other words, invisible.

"Hey you!" A cheerful voice called out. I assumed it was the person who had spotted me and found interest in me, and began to pick up my pace. I had a strong urge to go to class all of a sudden, praying that whoever the person was, would lose interest in me or end up having referred to someone else.

"Helloooooooooo?" The same voice sang out, growing closer and closer. I heard the sound of feet crunching into the freshly cut grass as they advanced towards me.

I kept my face inside the pamphlet hoping by some miracle they'd give up and leave me alone.

Nothing ever happened the way I wanted.

The pamphlet was yanked out of my grip, and I was forced to look up from the ground into a face of a really pretty girl with short, but endearing light brown hair. She looked a bit hurt and ticked off that I had ignored her, but her expression was quickly replaced by a bright smile. "You're a newbie here, right?" She asked, handing me back the pamphlet. "Oh, don't bother with this silly old thing. They haven't revised or edited it for a few years now, so it's basically useless." She was referring to the pamphlet.

I stared at her balnkly, wondering what someone like her could want from a loser like me. Ouch, that hurt a bit. It was nice to know that even I looked down on myself. That was sarcasm.

"Do you need help getting around? Didn't first period start fifteen minutes ago?" She asked, glancing at the watch on her wrist before her golden eyes flickered back up to meet mine.

I could tell right off the bat that she was a senior. She seemed confident in the air she walked in, and unlike me, didn't look scared to be talking to a complete stranger. I kept quiet, folding the pamphlet into fours and putting it into my pocket.

"I can help you around! I have first period free, so I hang around the field. I'm Petra by the way. You are?" She stuck out her hand, and offered me another smile.

I wondered what I did to deserve someone as pretty and nice as her to talk to me willingly as I stared down at her hand. Was I supposed to shake it? Did people still do things like that? "Eren." I replied after a long moment of hesitance, awkwardly shaking her hand before retrieving mine and returning it back to my side.

Good job Eren. The day is only two hours young and you already failed in not being noticed. By a senior at it, too. Why was it that girls noticed me when I didn't want to be noticed?

"What do you have now?" She questioned, looking at me almost expectantly. I did what any nomal, not an asshole person would do and handed her my schedule.

I supposed receiving her help didn't hurt, especially when she had been the first to offer it. I wasn't doing any harm to anyone or getting myself in trouble by taking something that was handed over to me.

"You have AP World History with Dot!" Petra announced, handing me back my schedule. I checked my schedule to make sure, and saw that she was right. I had AP World History... But not with this 'Dot' person she spoke of.

"It says Pixis on the sheet." I murmured quietly, a part of me afraid that her nice personality was just an act and she was just waiting for an excuse to explode her true colors.

She laughed, and I was confused. It wasn't supposed to be a joke, but I guess she found it funny because she did that typical thing girls did in TV shows by slapping my shoulder lightly with an 'Oh Eren' before she calmed down and spoke. "Your AP World History teacher is Dot Pixis. The seniors call him by his first name because by now, we're all pretty close with him! Maybe he'll let you call him Dot as well if you give him a nice first impression."

I doubt that was possible being that I was already nearly twenty minutes late to his class.

Reading my mind, Petra nudged my arm with an assuring grin. "No worries. Dot won't go hard on the first day. He's pretty cool, actually. You'll love him." I admit that did ease my mind a bit and I nodded. "You must be real smart though if you're in an AP class right on your first year. It's not an easy thing to do, you know."

Actually, I hadn't realized that I had an AP class at all until now. I wasn't aware of it, and Mikasa didn't seem to know of it either because she would have told me sooner if she had known. I blinked down at the paper to double check, and sure enough it was there printed in bold letters. "I'm not smart. I was pretty stupid in middle school." I said before I could stop myself.

Petra looked a bit surprised at my wording, but she bursted into another fit of giggles. "That's cute, Eren. You wouldn't have gotten into this school if you weren't smart, you know. Our programs are top class!"

I almost didn't hear what Petra said in the other half of her words because I was caught up on the fact that she had called me cute. She probably didn't realize how serious I took it and meant nothing, but I couldn't help but feel a bit satisfied at the compliment.

Honestly, I don't know how I got into the academy. Mikasa had said that it was a really good school with an amazing system, a remarkable graduation rate and in order to get in you had to have at least a B+. I sported a D throughout most of my years in middle school (sometimes a C- when I got lucky), so it must have been sheer luck or pity that I got accepted. Even Mikasa and Armin were surprised I got in despite them wanting me to count my lucky stars and pray I got in when I first handed in the application.

I gave a one shoulder shrug, not wanting to expand on my background too much to someone I had just met. Petra seemed nice, but I wasn't in this school to make friends.

Petra led me out of the field and we fell into a sturdy rock path. She continued to talk as she walked, but I tuned her out in favor of exploring the place a bit. Since it turned out that the pamphlet wasn't going to be my faithful partner for the first week of school, the least I could do was to memorize the place with my eyes. Not that I could rely on my shitty memory span.

At some point I stopped tuning her out and returned in time for her asking me a question. "So do you have a club you want to join? After all, our academy's specialty is our abundance of clubs! Which shall it be soldier? Twirling with the dancers in the Dance Club? Becoming one with the water in the Swim Club? Or are you more of a vocal kid, singing octaves in Musical Theatre?" Her thin eyebrows waggled at what I thought was supposed to be persuading and suggestive, but my facial expression remained as blank as a freshly cleaned whiteboard.

"If anything, you can join the football team-"

I couldn't help the loud laughter that escaped my lips at her words. Me, a football team? Yeager joining the football team?

"What's so funny?" Petra frowned, looking perplexed. "I don't think what I said was supposed to be humorous. I'm being serious here. You have the body for it. I may be a girl but I know a nice body when I see one!"

I would have been blushing or overly smug over the fact that she complimented me twice that day, but I was too busy in laughing and finding the idea absurd. "Do you know who I was during middle school?"

"Am I supposed to know...?" She asked, growing more and more confused. Her pretty lips pursed in thought, her eyebrows knitting.

I shook my head and smiled for the first time that day (probably in months) waving the matter away. "Nothing special. Thanks for helping me I'll be okay now." I turned around and placed my hand around the knob.

"Okay, if you say so Eren.." She didn't sound very convinced, but she didn't stop me. "See you around, okay? Don't be afraid to ask me for help!"

I looked over my shoulder and gave a small nod. Overall, Petra wasn't as bad as I thought she'd be. In fact, maybe if there were more people like her I wouldn't mind interacting with people even with me being deprived of a social experience. I said maybe.

-x-

"I told you to come to the orientation with me before the school started." Mikasa sighed as she closed her locker shut. She gave me a look of disappointment, and it was clear as day that she was at the same time pleased that she was always right.

"What's the big deal? I still got to first period just fine." I told her for the umpteenth time. "Mr. Pixis wasn't mad at me, and he let it slide."

There was an uncomfortable moment of silence aside from the murmur of the students passing by as Mikasa's eyes sized me up. When she decided she was satisfied or at least patient enough to let it slide, she spoke. She must have had a good first period.

"I still don't like how we only have lunch together." Mikasa said, changing the topic as she leaned against the lockers to look at me. "I can't watch over you like that."

"Mikasa, we're in high school you have to stop acting like my mom. Mom back at our house is there for that reason, isn't she? And even she doesn't follow me around every second of the day worrying about me. I'll be fine! I'm fifteen." I said a bit defensively, annoyed that Mikasa still looked at me like a child.

I could see the hurt in her eyes but it quickly disappeared when she caught me staring. "I'm just doing what your mom... our mom told me to do." She said softly as she buried her face into the red scarf she had taken a liking to ever since I wrapped it around her on her ninth birthday.

"You can take breaks in between, don't over exert youself. I'll be fine, see-?" As I threw my arms up I bumped into guy walking past me with his friend.

[ Jean's P.O.V]

There's nothing more than strangers touching me that aggravates me the most. I was having a rather nice discussion with my good friend Marco, until some kid decided to throw his arms up and stumble into me. I gave a miffed grunt, my eyes ready to size up whatever sucker that had managed to lose his balance foolishly and carelessly fall into me.

Next to me, I could feel Marco trying to frantically catch my eyes and trying to calm me down from whatever hell I was about to unleash, but there was no need for that. Because at that moment my eyes met a very alluring brown pair of eyes, and hair- oh God all of that luscious, black hair-

Before I knew it, I was shoving the sucker aside to get closer to the mysterious beauty I happened to lay my eyes upon. I could feel my cheeks heating up under her presence, and I ignored the 'oomf!' Marco emited from most likely having the kid I pushed land on him next.

"You're.. You're- You have really nice hair!" I blurted out before I could take the lame compliment back. She stared at me as if she wasn't sure whether I was speaking to her or not, before her hand went up to her long locks.

"Thank you." She said softly. I wasn't sure if her voice was generally soft, or if she was talking in a hushed tone. Either way, her voice was as promising as her looks.

Behind me I heard Marco and the sucker speak, although the conversation mainly consisted of Marco apologizing on my behalf. "I'm sorry he did that... He's normally very nice, I swear!"

I rolled my eyes and turned to face Marco, also preparing to grill the sucker that pushed me. "Next time just watch what you're doing-"

"Eren, let's go." The girl said behind me, walking around me to get to the sucker I was currently trying to chew out.

My jaw dropped and I couldn't carry out the rest of my words, dumbstruck. She knew the sucker?

Immediately I scrutinized the sucker named Eren and tried to figure out what was so good about him. He was shorter than me, and his clothes were normal. His haircut was lame and his body didn't seem special either. The only thing he had going for him was his eyes because I couldn't quite pinpoint a set color for them. And hell to the no was I going to stand there trying to figure that out.

"Hey man, sorry for bumping into you. We cool?" Quickly recovering from my stupor, I stuck my hand out for 'Eren' to take.

Eren stared at it like it was a dick I was sticking out, not my hand, but he took it after a while and gave it a light shake. "Sorry for bumping into you as well."

It wasn't that I liked this kid or anything. Even if he had the name of Eren, he was going to remain as sucker in my head for as long as I lived. All I was doing was trying to get on the good side of the girl with the nice hair, because for some reason I had a feeling they were related or something along those lines. No way was she dating this loser.

"Mikasa, let's go." Eren said promptly after dropping my hand. He looked to the girl at his side before turning around to get to his next class.

At that moment I heard something in me crack, and I could tell Marco heard it as well because he cringed. I watched with rancor as the sucker named Eren and the mysterious babe with the flawless hair walked away engaged in a conversation. "...Hey, Marco who was that asshole?" I asked through gritted teeth.

"Oh, him? Didn't you hear his name already? He's Eren Yeager. The girl next to him is Mikasa Ackerman, his adopted sister-" Marco began to speak, but was cut off by my actions.

I wiped my hand against the back of Connie's shirt as he passed by, my expression grave.

"Hey what the hell dude?" Connie demanded, trying to look at the back of his shirt. "What did you wipe on me?"

"My faith in humanity." I deadpanned before walking away.

"Sorry for that, Connie. He's just being dramatic." I heard Marco say nervously with a chuckle as I shoved through the crowd to my next class.

tbc.