Eren looked at himself in the mirror, but without seeing anything. There was not anything worth studying, but the OCD-like morning rhythm, demanded that he looked at himself in the mirror on his way the bathroom, even though he was too drowsy at the time, and would not be able to notice any change until he had taken a shower. All the daily chores - from his morning rituals to grocery-shopping - were intertwined through the last several years, and was executed slavishly to the beat of the drums from his heart every single day, without sparing it a single thought.

Although his life was organized and planned, Eren was more than satisfied with his life. He fit in exactly as planned, and no one seemed to have a single negative thought about him. He had no quirks, and every single detail about his looks were planned and designed specifically not to stand out, or create unneeded attention. At the same time he didn't look like a grey mouse or a nerd. He just looked normal.

His brown hair was as common as possible; no one would bother think anything about it. His clothes were nice but dim, and radiated no attitude or demeanour. Eren was just plain normal, sliding into the crowd without anyone actually noticing.

He had moved to the city at age 20, shortly after he had finished high school. He had lived with his father for the first six months while looking for an apartment. His father travelled a lot, so he had the house to themselves most of the time he lived there. It had suited him quite well. His father had rarely been home through his childhood, causing his parents to get a divorce when he was about ten years old. When Eren was a kid, his father had tried to come home as often as possible, he always brought gifts from his trip and he would play with Eren for hours, before taking off again. But over time it just wasn't enough for Eren. His father was never really a part of his life. Eren realized his father probably tried to buy his trust and friendship by treating him to expensive gifts and gave him a lot of money. It seemed ridiculous that he tried to catch up on several months on a single afternoon.

Eren had told both his teacher and his mother about the bullying from day one in school, but no matter how much his mother had tried to talk the teacher and other parents into doing something about it, no one cared to deal with the problem. Eren had tried to slip into the crowd back then, by cutting his hair, and thrown out his necklaces and clothes. When his mother had picked it out of the trash and told Eren that he shouldn't be influenced by his classmates opinions, he had cut it all to pieces and stated that he would only wear what other kids wore. But nothing changed. His classmates had stamped him as an oddball. Placed him in a box as a freak; one who had no father, and looked like a girl. The prejudices hang onto him throughout his school- and high school years.

So he decided to move to another city. No one knew him here and he could start all over. In the six months he lived with his father, he planned carefully how to deal with his appearance and how he should act as soon as he attended university. He wanted avoid things repeating itself at all costs.

He wasn't unfriendly towards others, and he managed to enjoy himself most of the time, but he always remained neutral. Unconsciously, his first priority in life was to never get judged by others, never to be put in a box again. The mere thought of being judged by others, could give him cold sweats, so he kept his opinions to himself. No one had the right to judge him. Way to few people realized that no one can be put in a specific box, since all people are different. Studying the people around him, listening to their conversations when they talked behind someone's back, he had discovered how a single preconception could turn into many.

In his class, there was a raven-haired girl named Mikasa, who rarely talked to anyone and almost never spoke up during the lectures. That was how Eren saw her. According to some of his classmates, she was an emo, she was an oddball, she probably had an abusive boyfriend or a troubled childhood, making her antisocial. Eren had tried talking to her, and none of it had been true; granted, she wasn't the most social person in the world, but she hadn't had a troubled childhood and she didn't have a boyfriend at all. She was often tired in the morning, explaining why she rarely spoke up, and she wanted to pay the professors respect by not interrupting the lectures. Simple as that.

Eren didn't correct his classmates when they talked about Mikasa. He had leaned that if he defended someone who had a negative brand, it would affect him as well.

So he kept a low profile, not wanting anyone to have a reason to judge him

Eren skipped through the rapport the professor had just returned. He had gotten an A in the assignment. He gathered the papers, putting them away without letting his expression change by his good grades. It had been an important assignment, the grades counting for a lot, but he strove not to show the enthusiasm he felt inside, happy to get that good grades.

"Did you get a good grade?" Jean asked, looking over his shoulder at Eren.

"I got a C," Eren lied. He often lied about his characters. Even though he worked hard to get good grades, he didn't want to stand out as someone too brainy or hard-working. Most of the times he got A's and B's, but he always told his classmates that he got C's. Average, normal, not standing out.

"Yeah, me too," Jean said, not really caring about his grades that much, "Come on, let's get out of here!"

They got up and went outside, enjoying the warm sun on their already tanned skin. It was the middle of the summer and it was Friday. Normally that meant partying all night long, and this day was no different.

Eren and Jean used to grab a couple on beers after the last lecture, waiting for Mikasa and Armin to join them later on. Jean and Eren wasn't exactly best friends, but Jean was extremely normal, giving Eren a reason to want to hang out with him, and Eren was one of very few people Mikasa cared to hang around, giving Jean a reason to want to hang out with Eren, as he had a crush on the raven-haired girl.

After buying a six-pack each, the two guys sat down on a bench and waited for the other two to join them. Small-talking and sipping on the beers, they enjoyed the first minutes of the weekend, and before they knew it, Mikasa and Armin joined them, grabbing a beer each. Eren introduced Mikasa to Jean properly, and had to hold back a giggle as Mikasa looked at Jean completely uninterested. Jean wasn't a guy to just give up like that, of course.

Eren had adjusted to his way of living by now, and he no longer needed to think about everything he said. His body and mind was on auto-pilot by now, and he almost didn't think about his need to not stand out any more.

They enjoyed the afternoon in the sun together, until they were approached by a brown-haired girl from the university, who none of them had classes with, but everybody knew who she was. She was just one of those people who knew everybody and no one really knew how she managed to keep up such a huge social-life along her studies. She was kind though, a bit eccentric, but nice acquaintance.

"Levi!" she yelled, slapping Eren on his back and stealing his beer, while smiling extremely friendly to the four of them.

"What? Why on earth would you call me Levi?" Eren asked and lifted an eyebrow at the girl.

"Eren! God, sorry - Eren!" Hanji laughed, rubbing her neck in embarrassment before hiding her face as she took a sip of Erens beer, "My new neighbour's name is Levi and he reminds me a lot of you, so I guess the name's just stuck in my head. You know, dark hair, short posture, short name." She laughed and gave Eren back his beer.

"I'm not really sure if that's a compliment or not," Eren said, sending the girl a teasing smile as his three friends giggled.

"You know, I haven't really had time to talk to him properly, but he seems cool. Looks like a punker, but otherwise he seems cool," Hanji said after thinking about if it was a compliment or not to be compared to Levi.

"Looks like a punker," Eren repeated the sentence to himself in his head, "So she haven't really talked to him, but she has already put him in a box."

He looked down at the beer in his hand, but didn't say anything, none of the others noticing the slightly annoyed expression in his eyes as he sighed.

"Anyway," Hanji said, remembering why she approached them in the first place, "I'm having a little get-together tonight to celebrate that it's finally Friday. You guys should come!"

Eren looked at his three friends, waiting for them to respond.

"Sure!" Mikasa and Armin said as one, looking at Eren who looked at Jean. Jean looked up at Hanji, nodding and sending her bright smile. They all looked back at Eren, waiting for him to respond.

"Yeah, okay," she shrugged, and took another sip.

"Great!" Hanji beamed, jumping up and down, "Come by around 8 then!"

A/N: I think I'm about done with the introduction now, meaning a lot more action in the next chapter. I should probably update on the Free!fanfic next, but I wanted to get this story going before getting back to the other one. Hopefully, I'll update both stories tomorrow!

I hope you enjoyed it, I'm doing my very best.