3. "Treehouse"

For a good hour and a half, the only sounds in the room came from the flipping of pages, the tapping of laptop keys, and the occasional scuffling of feet accompanying a change in position.

Aira had finished reading the assigned pages from the textbook and filling out the corresponding homework questions, and was now copying the notes from Armin's lecture notes. Though Eren had kindly offered her his notes as well, she had "kindly" replied
explaining how he was much less reliable than she was, even though she had been asleep in both classes. He in turn had "kindly" cussed at her.

As she was scribbling down the notes, she paused to let the information sink in. She wasn't at all surprised when she noticed some information that the textbook hadn't covered. It seemed very Professor-Ackerman-like to add more information than the course
really needed.

"How studious of you, copying your classmate's notes."

The sarcasm was dripping from his voice.

She didn't take her eyes off the paper. "Yeah, yeah."

There was a short moment of silence before he spoke again.

"Any questions?"

Her eyebrow rose at that. Was he offering help? This coming from the guy that, just this morning, had called them idiots if they didn't understand the content?

Finished with the last slide, she put her pen down. She didn't have questions about the content per se…Armin's notes were always top notched - super organized and clear. And with Professor Ackerman as their teacher, Armin was bound to have caught a lot
of good notes to jot down.

But there was one thing Aira wanted to ask.

"Can we get food yet?"

After giving her what she was coming to recognize as his "signature smirk", he closed his laptop and urged her off her feet.

She was skeptical when it became clear that they were heading towards a parking lot, and though she tried not to show it, grew increasingly skeptical when they stopped in front of a car.

He reached for his keys and unlocked the vehicle in one swift movement, stepping in before she could react.

When she hesitated to follow, he rolled down the passenger window. His voice sounded from the opening.

"What the fuck are you waiting for? You don't expect me to open the door for you, do you?"

Her eye twitched in anger.

"I can open it myself, thank you very much."

With that said, she yanked the door open roughly.

"Wow, look at you. You can do it after all."

The twitch stayed for the whole ride.

"So…" she started after she swallowed a mouthful of pasta.

The only indication of him listening was a slight raise in an eyebrow.

"Why are you doing this?"

It seemed awkward to ask this now, but it had taken a lot of courage for Aira to speak up. That long amount of time was necessary to prepare herself.

She sat uncomfortably under his watchful gaze for a moment, and she straightened up when he opened his mouth to talk.

His phone decided to be a little bitch and rang right at that moment.

She slouched back down when it became clear that this call was more important than her getting an answer. Noticing her depressed state, he spoke up. "It amuses me that you still don't know. You'll just have to wait and see"

Before she could retort, he pressed the receive button and brought the device to his ear.

"What," he deadpanned.

"Uh- yeah, sorry to bother you on your little date right now, but um…there are these two brats here -and I assure you, they are absolutely adorable brats- but they're just standing here demanding their 'friend' back- Ow! Stop hitting me! I'll have you know I am the Professor Hanji Zoë! Okay, fine fine. They're not demanding, sheesh. They are 'kindly asking' when you'll be back with their 'friend'."

"P-please and thank you!" He heard one of them add in the back.

Their attempts to appease were amazing, really.

"Two brats…looks like your friends are looking for you," he relayed to her. "How responsible of them."

She didn't know if that was a compliment or not, but she grinned smugly anyway.

"We'll come back as soon as this slowpoke finishes eating."

"Hey! Who are you calling a-"

He pointed at her plate which was still half full. She then looked at his plate, which had been finished a good ten minutes ago. With a few more words, he ended the call and rested his cheek against his palm, watching her again.

"I'm not finishing it for you."

"I know, sheesh!"

She took a huge bite.

"Hey guys," she greeted with a grin as they approached the professor's office. The two were sitting against the wall outside the room, looking like lost children. It was kind of a funny sight.

"Air- Professor Ackerman! How nice to see-"

"Save it."

Armin wisely shut his mouth.

"I'll see you later," he told her casually before disappearing into his office.

"Uh…yeah." When she turned back to her friends, they were eyeing her intensely, probably expecting answers.

Too bad she got none.

"Let's go to the library. I want to get some reading done before my next class." She easily brushed past them, signalling the end of that conversation.

"Are you excited, sweetie? I know you are, just look at your face!"

She checked herself in her phone. She had her resting bitch face on as usual… she couldn't see what was so exciting about that.

"Aww, look at that face!" Her mother moved to squeeze her cheeks.

"Mom! Focus on the road!"

It was currently the weekend, and the two of them were driving over to her mom's fiancé's place…for now at least. Soon, the two would get married, and she would have to call the man her stepdad. She didn't know how she felt about that.

"You're gonna love the place!"

Oh yeah, she was moving in with them too.

It was all so much to take in…she did space out when her mom mentioned it last time after all…

Not wanting to think about it any further, she decided to take a look out the window instead. Were they driving in a forest or something? The place was covered in trees, but other than that there wasn't anything else. Did this guy live in a tree?

"A treehouse maybe…"

"We're here!"

"I knew it, he lives in a tree."

"No, sweetie. That's rude. Look up ahead!"

So she did.

"Holy shi-"

A hand slapped over her lips before she could finish. Her mother braked abruptly (she would have been propelled forward if not for her mother's strong hand holding her in place) and spun her head in her direction slowly, reminding her eerily of every
horror movie ever. "You better watch your language in front of them. I don't want your filthy mouth ruining this engagement."

She squeaked and quickly nodded, a muffled "Yes mommy" escaping her covered lips.

Her mother's eyes sparkled the next moment. "Great!"

The gate opened for them without either of them having to leave the car and talk to the guards. Apparently it wasn't her mother's first time here as she happily waved at the closest security guard. He waved back courteously.

They stopped the car at the main entrance and some guy dressed in a black uniform came to park it for them. (They have valet parking?!) They didn't have to walk alone for that long when the man himself came down the main stairs to greet
them. Her mother quickly nudged her on the arm and told her to bow.

"In this day and age?" Aira whispered to her with disbelief.

"Just do it," she hissed back.

So reluctantly, she did.

"Oh, you don't have to do that now. Dear, do tell her to stop. Who bows to their own father in this day and age?" he spoke, though with a tone of amusement.

She flushed in embarrassment, slowly composing herself before lifting her head back up again. "I just want to thank you for making my mom happy." It wasn't a lie -her mother did seem noticeably jollier lately - but it was really just an excuse to cover
up a mistake her mother had made her make.

"She has brought me much happiness as well. You are so very well mannered…now if only my son was more like you…" he sighed. "Speaking of my son, where is he? I told him to be back by noon!"

"I'm sure he'll be here soon," her mother said.

"You're right. Let's go in first. He can join us in the gardens after. Come along now -Aira was your name, right? Your mother has told me so many great things about you!"

She tried smiling sweetly, but it probably just looked crooked and awkward. She didn't know what kind of false achievements her mother had told him (after all, if they're "great things" then they must have been lies.) Rather than walking with them, she
trailed behind the merry couple instead, admiring the mansion - which was definitely not a tree! It wasn't that she was avoiding the man - she just wasn't comfortable with the whole concept of having a new father yet. He did seem like a nice
man though, so she knew it wouldn't be too awfully hard to view him as such.

Just then, a car rolled to a stop by the entrance she just came from.

She ignored it at first. It didn't have anything to do with her after all. Even if it was the son that she was supposed to meet, he would come and greet her eventually. She merely continued her musings on the mansion's decor instead, which was extremely
grand and exquisite with those soft silky curtains, sparkling marble floors, and shining golden displays. The place was extremely tidy, so tidy that it automatically reminded her of a certain professor's office. She shook her head at that. Why the
hell was she even thinking about him? All he did was treat her to a lunch...or two. That was probably normal behaviour for him...yeah.

But when a familiar voice spoke up behind her, she couldn't ignore it anymore.

"So nice to 'finally' meet you, Aira."

...What the "Fuck!"