Short & Sweet

Chapter 2

I'm not a brat!

I banged my head against my desk to control my frustration. Why the fuck does math need to have letters in it? I don't even understand how to solve a problem with numbers so you throw some letters in and expect me to understand? Don't even get me started on imaginary numbers! Shits invisible! It has nothing to do with my major anyway! Stupid graduation requirements.

My old crusty teacher was at the front of the very large classroom writing complicated equations on the equally elderly chalkboard, as he held the textbook open with his other hand. Everything about the man was boring. His grey side parted hair was boring, his monotone, and dull clothes were boring. Even his walk is boring.

I love unique people, and those who have very specific styles or facial features and such, but this man was just kind of average. Height, weight, eye color, personality. Just dull.

Why couldn't I ever have a nice teacher or like a cool teacher? Reiner always boasts about how he gets all the cool teacher's. It's not fucking fair!

At least make him attractive or something, anything but this old man with his grandpa glasses and sweater.

really isn't that bad though. He's a pretty good teacher, he can't help that I suck at math and find him to be one of the most boring people on earth.

I'm gonna have to ask Armin to help teach me the material, otherwise I'm not sure how I'm going to learn the later lesson's if I suck at the easy stuff.

I let out a particularly loud groan and rolled my head to the side to see a girl with long thick hair pulled into a ponytail, giggling quietly to herself.

"You too, huh? I stayed up a bit too late as well and I'm still exhausted from my job late night." She whispered I assume that's what she was trying to do, but it was more like a regular tone than a quiet one.

It's weird how this strange woman just talks to me as if I'm her best friend.

"Hi, I'm Hanji." she raised her hand out for me to shake.

I rose my eyebrow in question but still took her open hand. Upon taking her hand, I felt a tingling sensation at my fingertips and pulled them back in shock, clutching the offended hand to my chest.

The strange girl's laugh got louder this time and shot the woman a glare and quite a loud "Shh."

"You're so adorable." The wild woman cackled again.

I gave her a strange look as my face brightened at the complement. What an odd woman. And what was that earlier? It felt like she shocked me.

She looked at my face and gave me a grin as her laughter died down.

"It's a buzzer, see?" She stuck her hand out again but this time she opened her palm to me, and sure enough there was a tiny electric buzzer.

I tried to ignore the insane woman's grin that rested on her lips, as she kind of looked like a clown when she did so.

"Do you do that to everyone you meet? Or is that just reserved for freshman?" I asked

"What!" She spoke loudly again, catching the attention of everyone around us. Most people gave glares and returned to the lesson.

"You're a freshman?" She asked quieter this time, but not by much. She was obviously trying to be quiet for my sake. I'm sure that she honestly doesn't care what people think of her. She seems like a very loud, and carefree person.

"Yes." I answered simply. I don't exactly know how to interact with someone this energetic.

"Wow, you look like a senior, which I am by the way. Hey, I didn't catch your name did I? I feel like I've scared you, don't worry you'll get used to it." She assured me.

What is this crazy lady talking about? Get used to? What does that mean?

"Well, uh my name's Eren." I smiled politely

I'm not sure if I should actually tell her my name. My mother often says 'although the things crazy people say are funny, doesn't mean you should trust them.'

That probably applies 100% in this weird situation.

"Oh my God, you're just so cute! Eren, huh? It fits you well. Well, what's your major?" She looked at me expectantly, brown eyes shining with curiosity.

Here it comes the same dreadful question. A very simple question, but very troublesome at the same time.

It's easy enough to answer, but hard for people to wrap their head around. Well, the lie is easy to understand. "Yeah I'm studying to be a professor." People often respect that answer, but the honest answer...not so much.

The honest answer is: "I'm studying art as my major." I spoke quietly

People often judge me for my major. Asking questions such as 'Why?' and telling me things like 'You'll never make it.' and 'That doesn't pay much' or 'How will you support yourself?'

My mom never for a second judged me for my decision. She always tells me to do what makes me happy and follow my dreams, so that's what I did. I moved to L.A. to study art.

"Oh, that's cool! I'm not a very good artist myself, but I'd love to see your work myself! I'm very much an art enthusiast." She said excitedly

"So, that's it?" I asked confused

She gave me a look that now matched my own.

"No, 'How are you planning on making money on that?' or 'It's just a waste of time...'

Hanji looked at me with a very serious look and frowned.

"Why would I do that? Doing what you like in life is the only thing that matters. Not anyone else's ignant opinion."

I giggled at her pronunciation and she seemed to light up like a christmas tree.

"That's the first time you laughed." She smiled wider

I looked at her, my eyebrows furrowing.

"No it's not."

"Yes it is, nervous laughter and polite laughing doesn't count." She said pushing her black framed glasses up her pointed nose.

She's a lot more observant than she let's on. I gave her a genuine smile this time, causing her to squeal.

"Oh! You're just the sweetest thing!" She grabbed me and pulled me into a very tight hug, causing me to lose my breath and everyone else around us to stare.

We talked the rest of class and I asked her about why she was taking this class as a senior and she told me that she was retaking the class because she enjoyed it so much the first year! Who does that? Well, I guess crazy people like Hanji do. Why am I even surprised?

Since she's a math wizard she gave me her number so she can help me study.

Why do I feel as if this is a horrible idea?

It feels like I've just given a serial killer rope and a knife. Which I wouldn't be too surprised if that's what her 'occupation' was. We never actually got around to that, and that makes me wonder, who in God's name hired this crazy lady to do a job?

After class, Hanji told me that she would walk me to my next class, considering I have art right after. Since Hanji doesn't have another class until later today, she decided she would walk her new 'friend.

"So, what' your favorite medium to work in?"

"Well, primarily I like working with charcoal, but I really like the look of oil and watercolor paintings...and traditional pencil drawings are really fun too…" I trailed off in deep thought.

I turned to look at Hanji and she was smiling creepily at me.

"What now?" I asked scared of her answer.

Pretty much anything could happen with Hanji.

"You look so passionate about art, I really admire people who have things that are that important to them."

I smiled gently at her kind words. She really is weird.

"I have this one friend, he's really into theatre and art maybe I could introduce you two."

"Pft, oh no that sounds like a disaster. If they're anything like you then...I don't know what I'll do. One of you is enough."

She cackled loudly at that. "You sound just like him, you guys would probably get along well."

We stopped outside my classroom to say our goodbyes and had to shove Hanji the other way, because she 'just had to see the inside of the classroom.'

Speaking of classroom's, the art room turned out to be quite large. The walls were splashed, literally, with paint and the room was very open as the desks were sat next to the large windows that lined most of the walls. In the middle of the room was a cart full of art supplies and next to the door of the classroom was the teacher's desk which seemed to be covered in pain. There were several storage cabinets scattered across the back of the room. I love the open space and the large windows, it gives it a very comfortable and peaceful feeling to it.

I made my way towards the farthest desk that overlooked the small patch of trees, that seemed oddly beautiful, as their branches were bare and exposed. The trees were tall and twisted almost like they were reaching for the sun. I wish I had my camera I could have taken some nice shots of the scene. I bet sunset was beautiful here.

I pulled out my sketchbook and started to contour the scene before me with my short, worn down 2H pencil. I had my nose so far into my sketchbook that I hadn't noticed someone trying to get my attention.

"Oi, Brat." I heard a deep monotone voice call in my direction and looked up to see one of the scariest people to ever exist. The look he gave off was If you disrespect me, you might die. No make that you WILL die.

Besides the very noticeable scowl on the man's face, he was actually very attractive. The man was very small in size, like a fun sized snickers bar. I'm sure if I said that to him, he would kick my ass into next year. His short black hair was parted slightly to the side and was worn as an undercut. The short man's face was beautiful to say the least. He had very pretty grey, sharp eyes, that gives the nastiest of glares, paired with black elegant eyebrows. His nose and chin were very slender, almost feminine like, but that didn't make him look any less manly. He's got a very distinctive look to him.

His small lips were pulled into a frown and I couldn't help but notice the piercing that sat on those same lips.

"Brat, I'm speaking to you." He spoke in the same annoyed monotone voice.

"Oh, sorry. What'd you need?" I asked my eyebrows furrowing together in complete concentration.

"I was asking you if you had any sketchbook paper." He said with the same bored expression.

"Doesn't the cart have paper?" I questioned

He clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Are you going to interrogate me, or are you going to give me what I want?"

I blushed lightly at the suggestiveness of his statement and hurriedly tried to rip a piece of paper out of my be honest, I don't like the way he keeps staring at me. It makes me feel like I have to obey every word that falls from his lips, and quite frankly I don't want to have to speak to the odd man for more than I have to.

"Here." I quickly ripped a blank piece of paper out of my sketchbook and gave it to him, our fingers lightly brushing over each others, causing fire to erupt not only in my fingers but in my chest. I could feel my heartbeat catch in my throat and it suddenly became hard to breath.

"W-w-well if that's all you need…" I rushed my tongue stumbling my words

The man just smirked. He obviously liked watching me squirm.

"What's the matter, brat? Cat got your tongue?"

I felt my face heat up partially from embarrassment and partially because if the man kept staring at me with those eyes I'm going to melt. Something about his eyes made me hold my gaze.

"Stop calling me brat! It's not my name. My name's Eren!" I snapped back at him.

He gently rose one of his eyebrows at me and smirked again.

"Aw, kitty does have claws. That's cute. But if you're a brat then I'm gonna call you a brat."

I narrowed my eyes at the rude man. "Then what do I call you? Shrimp?"

This time the dark haired man narrowed his steel grey eyes. "What'd you say brat?" He seethed

I gulped, but his change of tone didn't deter me. "You heard me, or are your ears too small too?"

I was surprised when I heard a laugh come from the emotionless man, his laugh was deep and sultry and I found myself wanting to hear it again. Though he quickly shrugged off the laugh, as if it had never happened.

"I can't tell if you have balls or if you're just very, very dumb." He said darkly

"Alright class! Please take your seats! We have a lot of material we have to cover!" The teacher interrupted the small crude man, and he quietly walked over to the far side of the room, narrowing his eyes at me.

I had a feeling he was going to jump me after class. I might be stubborn, but I'm not stupid. That man could easily kick my ass. From what I can see he's got some pretty big muscles for being so small.

"Right, so getting right into it. I'm your teacher, you can call me Mrs. Alan or Mrs. A for short. So assuming you all are supposed to be here, I'm going to assign you, critiquing partners for the year. No whining and absolutely no switching. So, I'm going to assign you randomly. Who knows maybe you'll become best friends with your partner." Mrs. Alan took out her chart, and started picking away at students one by one until, me and guess who were left, grumpy. "Levi you're with Eren."

Levi clicked his tongue in annoyance and sauntered over to my small working space. I assume the tongue thing is a habit of his.

This must be God's cruel way of pulling a joke on me. I would have paired with anyone else in the room, and I just so happen to be stuck with him? I mean it might as well happen. Shit like this happens all the time, why am I even surprised anymore.

"Long time no see, brat." He spoke bitterly, pulling the chair out and plopping down on the chair.

"Shrimp." I said looking at my nails.

Wait a second...Levi? That name sounds familiar. Why is it so familiar?

"Look brat, We're gonna have to get along whether we like it or not. So you better start cooperating. I don't want a bad reputation just because of some angsty kid. I haven't worked this hard just for you to fuck it up."

That's when it occurred to me.

"Wait a second. You're Levi ACKERMAN?"

He didn't seem too impressed with my outburst.

"Yes, and I'd appreciate it if you didn't burst my eardrums."

I smiled sheepishly "Sorry."

He looked away from me and stared out of the window. "Whatever."

I wish I could have taken a picture of the scene. His dark hair, complimented his pale skin, that shone brighter when the sun hit it.

"So how much longer are you gonna stare at me?" He said still looking out the window before turning his head slightly to look at me with an intensity that rivaled that of a lion. Waiting for the moment to strike. He was quite honestly beautiful.

I looked into his eyes as my heart sped up and my palms started to sweat with anxiety.

"As long as I want to, people often stare at the things they admire."

He rose an elegant eyebrow at that.

"Admire?"

"I admire you for your hard work. I know that making it in the acting business is really hard to do and I have a strong admiration for those who are passionate about things." Me and Hanji could both agree on that. "No matter how awful their personality is."

He rolled his eyes at the last part. "Thanks kid."

Mrs. Alan clapped her hands at the very front of the room and everyone turned to her to give her their attention.

"Okay, hopefully you guys have gotten to know your partners a little better. Now I'd like to discuss our first project. To start of the year right, I'd like to start with modeling, and then we'll go to shading and then charcoal…" She started to explain the entire semester of projects we were going to do, but somewhere in the middle, I spaced out.

"Oi, Kid." I looked up to see Levi standing in front of me and the classroom empty.

"Class is done."

I blinked twice before going into panic mode.

"Crap! I was suppose to meet Armin at Starbuck's right after my classes!" He's got a shift at work thirty minutes after I get out of classes for the day. Just my luck.

"Thanks, Levi, but I have to go now-" I looked up and the man wasn't there anymore, and I was all alone.

"Wait, so let me get this straight. You met Levi." Armin raised both his eyebrows in suspicion.

I nodded my head quickly.

"Levi? Ackerman? Actor Levi?"

I nodded my head again and rolled my eyes.

"Yes Armin I did."

He stared down at his coffee for a while before speaking up.

"Are you sure?"

"God, yes Armin I saw the man, in the flesh. Don't worry I didn't cheat on you." I joked

Me and Armin have been best friends ever since we were little, and me being the little gay baby I was I joked about me and Armin being in a relationship. It stuck ever since. Everyone in our group teases us about it. Even when me and Jean were in a relationship, he joked about it to me. It was kind of unofficially an official relationship. If that makes any sense.

"So, was Erwin there? Did he talk about him?" Armin questioned

I rolled my eyes again.

"Yes Armin he met a complete stranger at the college and decided, let me tell him about my supposed boyfriend."

"Well, I don't know…" Armin whacked my arm playfully.

"But I have the guy all year as a partner so if I meet Erwin by some wild chance that we become close enough, then I will put in a good word about you."

Armin smiled at me gratefully and took a sip of his coffee. He didn't have to tell me thank you, because I already knew it.

"So what was he like?"

I sighed deeply and though for a moment "Commanding." I finally came up with.

"Whenever he looks at you, it's with this force that just commands you to pay obey and listen to him."

Armin nodded along in understanding.

"He's also really prissy."

Armin just started laughing.

"Yeah, he's known for his attitude."

I scoffed. "You've got that right, you could fill space with the amount of ego that man has."

Armin smiled lightly at me and it threw me off a bit.

"What?" I asked suspiciously

"Nothing."

I narrowed my eyes in suspicion but left it at that. I'm not going to interrogate Armin. It's probably just some snarky ass comment.

Soon after we parted ways, and I was on my way back to my apartment to finish unpacking when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

Hanji: Wanna come over tom. to study? My roommate is suppose to be gone until later.

Eren: Sure, I'll see you then.

Hanji: Bring some snacks, momma's hungry.

I rolled my eyes at the last text and kept on walking towards my apartment as my phone blew up from Hanji's constant texts.

A/N: I'm updating early because of finals next week as I'm super busy the rest of the weekend and next week, so don't get used to it. And a shout out to everyone who's supported this story. Your support doesn't go unnoticed, so thank you all and I'll see you next time.