~Friends~

To Eren's shock, he found all of the boxes neatly folded in a stack beside his couch. Everything had been taken out, dusted, polished, you name it. Eren scrunched his face up in utter confusion.

This must not be an ordinary robber... Maybe he's toying with me to make me feel at home and comfortable and then when I'm least expecting-

Eren yelped and ducked away from a sudden tap on his shoulder. He twisted back around quickly and stood in a martial arts pose ready to fight. A familiar set of narrow blueish gray eyes that could intimidate even a king looked up into his own brown ones.

"You should learn to keep things clean. Otherwise we'll have problems and possibly have some cleaning lessons. Understood, Jaeger?" the short man from earlier demanded. Eren crossed his arms over his chest clearly annoyed already. He'd just moved in. What else was to be expected? Plus, this wasn't that guy's home anyways; he just entered without consent.

"You should learn to keep your hands off things that don't belong to you, sir. Wait, how do you know my name?" Eren began to take a step forward to intimidate the man, but with a quick inspection at his upper body, even through his shirt, it was clear that this guy had some serious strength. They both stood stock still, Eren glaring down and the man staring up at him with a nonchalant expression.

"My name isn't sir. I'm not your superior and I'm not that old."

"Well how am I supposed to know your name or age? You look thirteen but act like a grouchy ass old man."

Levi finally showed some reaction by shooting him a glare that made him recoil. He began to take a step forward and raised a duster in his hand that seemed to come out of no where. However, to Eren's relief, he stopped and slowly lowered the feathery stick.

"Watch your mouth, Jaeger. You don't need to know anything about me. That clear? Just call me Levi. As for knowing your name, Mr. Smith has talked about you a couple of times. That's all." The mention of Mr. Smith stirred up his thought process. Why would his teacher mention things about his students to 'just someone who runs his errands'? Confusion was clearly slapped all over his face while he slightly shook his head.

"What else did he say about me?" Eren inquired.

Levi started to turn away, aiming for the door. "None of your business. Now go enjoy the clean atmosphere. You're welcome. Oh and you're about to be late for your interview, kid." Within a second, he tossed the duster onto the couch and was out the front door, leaving Eren alone to process the past 20 minutes. He didn't have long to think about it, though. His interview was in half an hour.

Throughout the house, everything was spotless and decorated nicely. Levi certainly knew how to organize. Even the clothes had been stowed away according to color. A light warmth rose in his cheeks when he realized even his underwear was folded. He snatched a nice shirt and some dress pants and quickly changed while in thought.

Was this one of Mr. Smith's "errands" he had Levi do? Unlikely. Why would my teacher ask some guy to tidy up my house? Then again, what other reason would he have for going to all that work?

Eren cleared his mind, leaving his memory of today inside his home. He'd have to jog, but he'd most definitely make it. This was his only chance at having a way to pay the bills. When he was moved here, a social worker had told Eren she'd pay the bill for the house and would send money maybe once a month for food and clothing. It was still a mystery to Eren why they took his sister Mikasa away to another location.

When he reached the café, he plastered a smile on his face and wished himself luck.

Later at his home, Eren dropped his body onto the couch with a bowl of soup in front of him. It was a relief the social worker was smart enough to fill the fridge and cabinets with nonperishables. He'd have to buy drinks as soon as possible though.

The interview went perfectly, and the manager even told him he could start work that next day. Everything was going more than great, but Eren couldn't help feel like there was a part of him missing. Maybe it was the death of his parents. Or being so far away from Mikasa for the first time. It gnawed at the back of Eren's mind while he watched a show about a demon butler and his 'young master'. It made him laugh a few times and he couldn't help but think about how attractive Sebastian was for someone who wasn't real... And was a guy. He didn't understand why he thought another guy was attractive. Dude on dude wasn't even appealing to him.

Then again, he'd never really dated anyone. He'd only had a couple friends at his old school and both were girls. He had no experience with either gender to fall back on.

Eren raked his fingers through his hair and violently shoved a spoonful of scorching hot creamy chicken soup into his mouth.

Nope. Nopenopenopenope. I'm just over thinking it. Nothing more.

For the rest of the night, he watched a various amount of Disney movies, got caught up on all of his school work, and occasionally watched an amusing cat video on YouTube. It was getting harder to stay awake. Especially while listening to 'A Whole New World' from Aladdin. He flicked the television off and pulled himself up the stairs to his bedroom. Instead of bothering to turn off the lights or get into his pajamas or bury himself under the covers, he flopped down and slowly, almost thankfully, lost consciousness.

Today hadn't been that bad. It'd been somewhat shitty due to the Levi situation but, at least, not as horrible as he thought it'd be. And yet, deep down, he was already dreading tomorrow.

The next morning when he'd woken up, he'd forgotten where he was. He had to look around the room for clues. It had a simple look- navy blue walls, wooden dressers, sunshine that shone through white curtains, and a white lamp that sat on a wooden side table. It all reformed in his memory that this was his new home. And that this room was his. And also, this was the only one he'd arranged. Every other decorated room was Levi's doing. The thought of it sent shivers down Eren's spine like he was still there with him. He strangely didn't mind the feeling. He didn't want to feel alone. He didn't want to be alone. But he was.

Eren had to drag himself around the house to get ready. He wasn't ready for anything today. The dark bags under his eyes spoke for themselves.

The first black shirt and sweatpants in sight was what he slipped his body into. It wasn't like there was anybody he was trying to impress. Not his teachers, not the principal, and not his peers. 'And most certainly not Levi...,' a little voice added tauntingly. Eren squashed the thought like a roach. He didn't want to cross paths with him today. Or any other day, matter of fact.

He found the man admirable on some level with his independent attitude, but he was a straight up asshat that didn't even know how to carry on a friendly conversation. Then again, Eren couldn't say much. He wasn't exactly all that good at carrying on a decent conversation either. At least he thought, sometimes, before he spoke. That guy had no filter.

The walk to school felt all too short. He took his seat in the back of the classroom, not wanting any attention drawn to himself. There were five minutes until the final bell.

"Um, Eren?" a voice, barely audible, said. He tilted his head up to see Armin bent over, his face awkwardly close to his own. Eren flushed, feeling an annoying warmth crawl up his neck. He quickly lent back and coughed.

"That's me. Can I help you?" He hoped his voice sounded unwavering, but at that moment, he was too conflicted to give it much thought.

What the fuck? He has a dick, Eren. Get a grip on your hormones.

The blonde just blinked for a moment not responding. When he realized he was staring, he cleared his throat and started to speak, but was cut off by the boy with blonde and brown hair.

"Awwe look at these two love birds. The ship has sailed, my fellow classmates," his voice raised above everyone's chatter. All of the kids in the room twisted their heads around like owls to look at the pair. A few kids snickered and some grinned whispering, "I knew it'd happen!" Eren and Armin glanced at each other with wide eyes. Armin's face lit up bright red as he tried to explain himself to them.

"N-no! Its not like that! I was just making sure he's caught up...," his voice dwindled lower and lower as he realized no one was listening to him. The bell rang and he sighed looking back down at Eren. "I'm sorry. Because I like guys, they like to pick on me by pairing me with any male that comes within five feet of me... I'll leave you alone. I hope you like the class." Just as he hung his head and turned around to go, Eren grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Wait a minute," Armin's head snapped back to look at him, his eyes still wide. It was barely noticeable but Eren could see his jaw tensed up; he was holding back tears.

Damn your waterworks. This kid better thank me for this...

All eyes were on them as Eren stood up. He threw his arms in the air and said just as loudly as the douche who started the mess, "Oh why the fuck not?" It was dead silent at this point. He rested his hands on the boy's shoulders and lent forward pressing his lips against his cheek. Standing back up straight, he crossed his arms across his chest. "Are you all satisfied? Now fuck off." To his horror, though, he realized 50% of the class had their phones out taking pictures. He held back a groan and just sat back in his seat frustrated.

"Well, well, well Mr. Jaeger. I certainly hadn't pegged you as the type of guy to make a move on someone on your first day," Mr. Sutcliff winked as he straightened up a few papers on his desk. Everyone shuffled to their seats and Armin practically ran back to his. Instead of coming up with a retort, Eren simply huffed, narrowing his gaze on his binder as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. "Alright, let's get started, my darlings. Go grab a book and turn to page 370."

Before Eren could make a move to get up, Armin had grabbed one for them both. They both mumbled 'thank you' and gave a small smile to each other.

I don't know how, but I think I just made a friend.

Two stressful classes later, he had turned in all his missing work and was caught up. He didn't speak to anyone after his first class, but it was clear everyone knew about Armin and him. He just had lunch to deal with and one more class to go before he could finally leave. Lunch couldn't be that hard to survive.

But it turned out, it was. After Eren's little performance, he was apparently the talk of the school. People were talking about how amazing it was "having the balls to do that in front of the class." Attention was far from what he'd wanted, but he'd walked straight into it. He hoped to a higher power that this all would roll over by tomorrow.

After he exited the lunch line, several people at different tables all waved him over, yelling for him to sit with them. He scanned the cafeteria looking for a certain blonde. His gaze was so tuned in on the tables farther away, he almost didn't notice the man standing right in front of him. The yelling died down and settled to a medium chatter. Levi spoke first.

"Jaeger."

"Levi."

"Brat."

"Kleine Scheißer." Levi narrowed his eyes accepting the challenge.

"Tu es completement débile."

"Küss mein arsch."

"Okay. As long as it's not filthy."

"Fi- wait, what?"

"What?" Levi had no expression on his face, but Eren could see he was holding back a smirk. His eyebrows scrunched up and he backed away to go find Armin.

"U-um, nothing. Jus- nothing," he stammered as a stupid familiar warmth found its way across his neck.

Out of no where, an arm looped around his and dragged him away from the asshole. Facing forward, he could still feel Levi's eyes bore into his back. Then he recognized the boy towing him in the direction of a table where four kids were already sitting. It seemed they were saving each other's asses today.

"He doesn't normally talk, but don't let him bother you. He can be a real prick when he does decide to socialize with us," a guy with a shaved head and goldish green eyes said to Eren. "I'm Connie by the way," he threw up a little wave, "This is Sasha, my girlfriend," he pointed to the girl that was in his third class, "That's Marco," a guy with black hair and freckles smiled tipping his head, "Krista is probably off table hopping. She loves talking to everyone. And this is Annie, Krista's girlfriend." A girl with blonde hair that was pulled back into a pony tail sipped a carton of juice and shifted her attention to Eren for a split second before looking away, disinterested.

Armin pouted, "You forgot about me." Connie rolled his eyes and smirked.

"We already know you two know each other. We saw it all this morning," he snickered. Armin's face turned light pink and Eren choked on his milk. A little bit came out of his nose while he thumped his palm on the table. Thrown into a fit of coughing, he crossed his arms on the table and buried his face in them. All five of them laughed- even Annie was trying to hide a smile behind her piece of bread. Armin explained the one who'd started the whole ordeal was named Jean, and Eren asked them if he'd been birthed by a horse. Marco choked on his milk this time and everyone went back to rolling with laughter.

Eren couldn't help but feel a little happier around these guys. Maybe things could get better. He smiled despite the embarrassment of this morning and joked about it with them even. At the end of lunch, he'd made a total of five friends. Krista had never showed up, but she'd texted Annie saying she had to go to the office for an award or something. He couldn't wait to meet her, in fact. He was almost confident that she wouldn't mind being friends.

As they all departed to go to their classrooms, Eren waved Armin and Sasha on ahead, admitting he'd had to piss all day. They laughed and went on their merry way as he B-lined it for the boy's bathroom. On his way, he saw a flicker of Levi's face in the crowd, but when he turned around he was no where in sight. It was more than a relief when he made it to the restroom.

However, just as he entered, he felt a force collide with the side of his jaw.