Chapter Four: The Move

Eren and Mikasa sat waiting for Armin in a quaint little Italian restaurant a few blocks away from the campus. They both brought a few days worth of clothes so they could stay with him and his grandfather while they looked around the city for a new apartment for Eren. Armin managed to find a few decent looking places within or around Eren's budget, but he wanted the girls to go with him when they went to see them in person before deciding on anything.

"Eren," Mikasa spoke as the waiter brought them two waters, Eren's with a little lemon wedge and Mikasa's with no ice. "Have you heard anything back from any of the places you've applied too?"

Eren thanked the waiter with a smile and slight nod of her head, before taking the glass and squeezing the lemon into it. "I haven't heard anything back from Trost Hotel, I really want to go by in person while we're here if you don't mind." She swirled her straw around, distributing the lemon juice evenly throughout the iced water and took a sip before continuing, "I won't know about the campus position until the week before classes start, I'm not even sure if they'll accept my work study since I was wait-listed..." She trailed off and took another sip from her water, stabbing at the lemon trapped beneath the straw in the bottom of the glass.

"What about the bookstore, I know you don't need work study for that." Mikasa replied with a small smile.

"Hmm… I could try that. They will probably need all the help they can get with the start of the new semester." She took another drink and smiled around her straw. "I also have an interview for that little café near the market; the boss seemed really nice when I talked to him over the phone, so that's always an option."

Armin walked up to the table and sat down just as the waiter was returning to take the girl's orders. He slid into the booth on Eren's side and placed his own along with them.

"So do you two want to stop by my place now to drop your things off or go straight into apartment searching?" Armin asked the girls. They both had one bag each, both placed next to Mikasa on her side of the booth in between herself and the wall.

"I'd rather get settled first," Mikasa offered, "we will probably be too tired to care much afterwards."

Eren nodded and Armin chuckled. "Then we'll drop your stuff off first."

Eren spoke up, "Why don't we order something to go for your grandpa?"

Armin's face brightened a bit, "let's do that, I'm sure he's hungry by now. I'll call him and let him know not to make anything." He got up and stood next to Mikasa, "let me take the bags and put them up while I'm at it, I left my phone in the car to charge anyway."

Mikasa handed him one bag and then picked up the other herself. "I'll be right back Eren," she said before following behind Armin and out of the building.

When the two returned, the waiter had just set down the tray stand so he could begin handing out their meals. Armin thanked him and placed his grandpa's order to go. The trio ate in a comfortable silence, enjoying the food too much to converse. Following their lunch, they made their way back to Armin's place, and unpacked their belongings in the guest bedroom. Armin's grandpa lived on the third floor of the three story town home, which held the laundry room and guest bedroom. Armin lived on the second floor which held the kitchen, dining area, and living area. The first floor held the modest entryway and a garage for the car.

Within the next hour, the girls were unpacked, grandpa had his meal, and the trio had made their way to their first destination. These apartments were the cheapest on the list, but they were the furthest from the campus, it would take a twenty minute bus ride and a ten minute train ride on top of the walking commute for Eren to get on campus every morning. To make matters worse, they were tiny, old, and filthy, but of course, they didn't find this out until after the tour of the model, which tragically, heightened the hopes of the group from the very start of the tour.

The woman who took them on the tour showed them into the model, which was a decent size, for the price, the appliances were top of the line, black and stainless steel, the countertops were finished with a faux granite design while the floors were made of a high grade linoleum tile. The carpet was a tan color, with multiple color specks throughout, most likely to hide any stains, and the blinds were vertical and plastic. The bedroom was big enough to fit a queen snugly, so it would be perfect for Eren's loft bed and bookshelf.

It was fairly nice, until the woman showed them the apartment that Eren would be moving into…if she decided to choose these ones. The space was tiny. It smelled like mildew and as soon as they stepped through the door, Eren was ready to bolt. The linoleum was much cheaper, and peeling up in some places, the carpet was stained by what looked like paint and some mysterious brown liquid, the cabinets were scratched and discolored, and the appliances were old, once white, but now yellowed with wear and improper cleaning. The trio thanked the woman quickly and said that they wouldn't need to continue the tour and as quickly as they could, bolted to Armin's car, ready to see anything but that pit again.


Five more stops and a day later, the trio finally ended up at the place that Eren would soon call home. They were called Trost Apartments, and they were by far, the most conveniently located place they had looked at. Eren had come across these from a search she did online, and she was so glad she did.

They were situated next to a lake, with a bricked walkway all around it. There were all different kinds of styles offered as well, ranging from loft styles to more traditional and even a few buildings that were set up like hotels. The price wasn't going to break Eren's bank either, it also helped that they were running a new year opening special.

The agent toured the group through several models, which were all around the same price, and asked Eren which style she preferred. She liked them all, and wanted to go with the cheapest one, but on Armin's suggestion, decided to go for the hotel style one, which was the second priciest of the four models shown. Armin's argument was that the hotel styled apartment building was much safer for Eren to live in, especially since she lived alone most of the year. All the other apartments required parking in a car lot or garage and walking a fair distance outside to reach the front door, whereas the hotel styled one had an underground parking garage that was pass code protected and an elevator that dropped Eren off right inside her building without having to set foot outside. This would be better and safer for Eren when she was able to get herself a car. The building was also pass code protected from the outside and required a card key to open the area leading to the residential hallways.

The building Eren was going to live in had three floors; Eren's room would be on the first floor, at the farthest end of the hall to the right. It had one good sized bedroom with a full bath, a big, for an apartment anyway, living and dining space, a little porch, and quaint little kitchen. It was large for the price, only $480.00 a month, and most importantly, it was clean. It didn't smell, it didn't have mysterious stains, plus it was by the pool, and the train station was only a fifteen minute walk or a 5 minute bus ride away. There were quite a few shops and little restaurants all around; there was even a tiny family owned grocery store. Within the next hour, Eren signed the papers and left her check for the first month's rent, which was only half of a regular month because of the special. Her place would be ready to move into in a week. All she had to do was rent a truck and see if she could coerce Jean and ask Marco to help her move. He had to be good for something. Next on her list was finding a stable and decent paying part-time.


Eren's interview at the café went extremely well, the owner loved her. He asked one of the other workers to take her measurements for the uniform and told her let him know when she was settled into her new place so she could begin training. Her starting hourly wage would be $12.00 and she could keep whatever tips she earned.

She still hadn't heard anything back from the Trost Hotel, so she just assumed they weren't interested and skipped out on wasting her time in favor of applying at the school bookstore. The manager had her fill out her application and interviewed her on the same day. Eren was hired to start the 15th of the month as a temporary worker with an hourly wage of $9.00.

With a new job, and apartment secured, Eren felt a few of the weights lifted off her shoulders as she lifted her tired and soon to be sore body into the passenger's seat of the moving truck. Armin sat in the driver's seat, buckled up and ready to leave behind Shiganshina Apartments and head to Eren's new home a few hours away. Mikasa sat in the passenger's seat of Marco's minivan to direct him to their destination if he ever lost sight of Armin. Jean sat in one of the rear seats, napping as they made their way back to Rose.


"Jean, get off your ass and help me with this!" Eren shouted, exasperated at Jean's lack of help throughout the move. She was balancing a deceptively heavy box between her body and the wall of boxes precariously perched in front of her inside the half emptied truck. He and Marco, with a little help from Armin and guidance by Eren, moved most of the heavier pieces of furniture, and for that Eren was grateful, but what she was not grateful, happy, or even amused about was the fact that Jean was sitting on the stair steps simply watching her and the others move the boxes into their designated rooms.

He downed the remainder of the water in his bottle before shouting back, "Yea, yea, whatever Yeager. Keep your panties on, I'm not done with my break yet." He crushed the empty bottle and threw it in a trash bin next to the door before walking over to the back of truck and up the ramp.

Eren's eye twitched and she turned to give him a nasty glare as he approached. "What the hell was that?" She questioned impatiently.

He smirked at her obvious frustration as he took in the image before him; she was straining to keep the box up, awkwardly positioned between a stack of boxes taller than both of them and the wall of the truck, trying to keep the box in her hand from falling and the tower of boxes from toppling over. He walked over and slipped behind her thinner frame, taking hold of the box as he forced her body forward with a suggestive and playful thrust of his hips into hers.

Eren's features contorted with annoyance as her face grew red with embarrassment and anger. "Jean what the hell do you think you're doing?" She screeched as she tried to get out of his hold. She pushed herself off of him, only to be stopped by the dangerous swaying of the boxes overhead. "You're an ass…" she hissed. She let go of the box and left all the weight to him, ducking out of his suggestive embrace and jumping out of the truck. She looked back to see Jean's frame shaking with laughter as he adjusted his grip on the box and made his way down the ramp and towards the hallway leading to Eren's apartment, laughing the whole way. Eren wanted nothing more than to kick his ass as soon as he came back out. As she cooled down a bit from the outburst, she concluded that injuring him could wait until after he'd finished helping her move.

Eren tried to have as little time alone with Jean following the incident for the remainder of the day and into the night as the group completely emptied the truck. Every so often, Jean would catch Eren's eyes and he would laugh, wink and thrust forward, reminding her of her embarrassingly compromising position. Armin offered to return the truck to the lot and Marco said he would drive him home afterwards while Eren and Mikasa stayed behind to unpack and get settled in. Jean drove himself so he was just going to go home.

As the group said their goodbyes and went their separate ways, Jean to the guest's parking in the underground parking garage, and Mikasa and Eren into the apartment, Eren offered to take the trash and hurried down the hallway to do just that. She quickly dumped the garbage and rushed to the elevators to follow Jean down to his car. As he was fumbling around for his keys, she walked up behind him and shouted, "Hey horse-face."

He turned around and raised a brow at her unexpected appearance. He watched as she narrowed her eyes and started to rush towards him. He watched as her fist flew closer and closer to his face, and cringed as he realized it was about to connect with his right eye. He dropped his keys. "What the fuck" he barked, staring at her tightly clutched fist just centimeters away from his eye, "…Eren" he grunted through clenched teeth.

She stuck out her tongue, stepped back and then smirked as she playfully thrust her hips forward once. "Next time I won't stop." She reached down and picked up his keys, then dropped them into his palm. "Have a safe trip home Jean," she spat, acid and sarcasm dripping from every word. With that, she walked, with a satisfied sway in her step, towards the elevators and back up to her apartment, leaving Jean to think dwell on his previous actions, as he finally opened his truck and forced himself into it, growling and shaking with anger at Eren for her antics and obvious lack of interest in him, but mostly at himself for still hoping that he had a chance.

For the remainder of that Sunday night, and into the early hours of Monday morning, Eren and Mikasa opened and sorted boxes, slowly but surely making more space in the cramped quarters. Eren wanted to have everything done as soon as possible so she could rest up and start at the café before the week was over.

That night, the girls slept soundly and peacefully, letting their sore and tired bodies rest well. Armin and Marco found themselves in a similar state, while Jean's sleep was rather fitful. In a similar manner, Levi found himself in a fitful sleep, trying to get the images of a beautiful and young brunette with sparkling emerald eyes out of his head.