Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews, faves, and alerts! I appreciate them! Hugs!

So, now that Eren and Levi know an unwanted secret about each other, how will their tension grow when they have to see each other in school too?

Good news! I'm actually studying Japanese (minoring in it in college this year~), and I already know two years' worth. So I won't need to use Google Translate when Levi really starts teaching. So no one can tease me anymore! Yay for accuracy!

Enjoy the chapter~

Chapter 4 Schoolhouse Shock

Two Weeks Later…

Levi looked in the bathroom mirror and tugged at his dress shirt collar to loosen it slightly. Today was his first day as a teacher at Shiganshina High School. He is one for making good impressions, so he had to make sure he looked his best.

Erwin helped Levi purchase dress pants, shirts, shoes, and ties for the job. That morning, Levi decided to wear a simple white dress shirt with black dress pants and shoes. He finished the look with a black tie. His pants had a skinny fit, just the way he liked it. He hates loose clothing.

After brushing his hair and teeth, Levi walked out of the bathroom and into the kitchen. Erwin had left earlier than usual that morning, but left a pot of coffee brewing for Levi. After pouring a mug and sweetening it with generic brand sweetener, Levi looked over his roster and the curriculum her wrote out for the class himself.

"Heh… only twelve people signed up." Levi mused. "Oh well. A smaller class will be easier to manage anyway."

Levi rinsed out his coffee mug and quickly washed it before leaving for SHS. He neatly placed all of his school materials inside a leather shoulder bag and hoisted it around him. Luckily, the roads were not slicked with ice, so Levi walked over to his motorcycle. He managed to fix the engine so it wouldn't be so loud. However, he was still under the watchful eye of Nile Dok.

Levi revved up his bike and took off towards the high school. Teachers were required to arrive at the school an hour before the students, so Levi did not have to deal with the kids that shouted at him again. When Levi sped past the Maria Bakery, he saw lights on in the bakery section.

Carla's already up, huh? Heh… that brat must still be sleeping.

Ehen Levi arrived at SHS, he parked in teacher parking and hurried inside the school with his shoulder bag. SHS is a pretty big school. It is two stories, and educates the entire teenage population of Shiganshina. Approximately 1,000 students.

He knew where his classroom would be, so Levi quickly walked upstairs into B Hall.

"Okay… B535…" Levi murmured.

When he arrived, Levi noticed a sticky note on the door. He pulled it all and read it.

Mr. Ackerman,

Come on by the teacher's lounge. The other teachers want to meet you. We have coffee and donuts.

Principal Pixis

Levi sighed, crumpling the note up. Levi walked inside his newly acquired classroom. It was bare. Completely bare. No posters were on the walls. The walls were a sickly cream color. The carpet was grey. This room was in serious need of remodeling. He clicked his tongue. This would not do. Sure he was clean, but he wasn't boring as fuck.

Deciding to deal with that later, Levi quickly dropped his stuff off before heading back out. He vaguely remembered the teacher's lounge being somewhere near Pixis' office, so he would start there. As Levi suspected, he heard chatter. He walked in the room next to Pixis' office. The female teachers were mostly wearing long skirts and blouses. The male ones had on sweaters and dress pants.

They were drinking coffee and talking amongst themselves. One of them turned around and spotted Levi.

"Mr. Ackerman! Welcome to Shiganshina High School." She smiled brightly.

"Thanks." Levi deadpanned. "You can just call me Levi."

The teacher scrunched up her nose. "We try to teach the children that in school, we must remain formal and respectful with the adults. Informality is for after school. So thus, the teacher calls each other 'Mr', 'Miss', or 'Mrs' during school hours."

"…oh."

He looked to the left to see some of the male teachers looking at him, judging his skinny fit dress pants. What were they, a bunch of snotty girls?

Levi's attention was brought back when another female teacher walked up to him.

"Since this is your first day teaching freshman, let me warn you about some of them." She said to him. "I am not the gossiping type, but there is some distinct trouble that the school is trying to deal with."

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Okay…"

"First off is Eren Jaeger."

"What about him?" Levi asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.

"He is the most rebellious of them all. He tends to be late, lazy, and has a horrible mouth! He also picks fights with other boys, mainly Jean Kirstein. Eren has been on church probation twice this semester. And speaking of Jean…" The teacher shuddered and shook her head, as if she would be condemned to hell if she spoke.

Levi waited for her to say something. And this is not considered gossip? Hypocrite.

"He and another boy, Marco Bodt, were caught doing… unspeakable acts against God." She put her hand over her heart. "And because of it, they are not allowed to be near each other, in school and out of school. They are now required to go to prayer twice a week until the desire for each other is gone. That is the only time they are next to each other. It's a real shame. Marco has the second highest GPA, and he was so sweet and respectable. Now thanks to Jean, he's turned into a sinner."

Levi was put off. He remembered Jean mentioning someone named Marco at the underground party. "What could they have done that was so horrible?"

"They…" The teacher trailed off, but quickly took out the pen from behind her ear and scribbled it down on her napkin. She handed it to him.

Levi looked down at the note.

They were caught kissing and touching each other inappropriately in the boy's bathroom.

"…and how is this sinful?" Levi asked.

"Homosexuality is an abomination before God!" The teacher cried, exasperated.

"But they weren't having sex, right? The law here says that it's against sex before marriage." Levi frowned. "So how were they breaking the town's law?"

"The Bible is also the law." The teacher told him. "And in this school, that is our policy."

The teacher babbled on about other students Levi didn't know. How Sasha Blouse is a glutton, Annie Leonhart is cold-hearted, Connie Springer has a horrible attitude, and…

"Historia Reiss! If angels were tangible, she would be one!" The teacher mused. "She is the perfect Christian. Kind, respectful, turns in all of her assignments, gets straight A's, and goes to every church service, which is three times a week!" Her eyes narrowed. "She spends her time with the bum Ymir. Ymir is such a horrible influence. I just hope Historia's angelic nature rubs off on her. Oh, and also, there is the biology teacher that came in two years ago. She is-"

"It's 7:50! The kids will be coming in soon." A male teacher announced.

As soon as he said that, Levi abandoned the teacher's lounge. He will never be going there again. He was two seconds away from popping her in the mouth.

That lady is nuts. This school is nuts. This town is nuts! There is nothing wrong with these kids. They're acting like normal kids! And these damn teachers are acting like they're demons. And Historia… she was the one delivering the marijuana. She's not as angelic as they think. I just wish they wouldn't drink and get high. They're too young for that. They're going to end up just like I me: hitting rock bottom.

Before he knew it, he was back in his room. There was already a girl inside, sitting in the front row of desks on the far right of the room. She had blond hair and big blue eyes.

"What's your name?" Levi asked, taking out a sheet with empty spaces on them to fill out the official roster.

"Historia Reiss." She replied sweetly.

Levi's eyes widened. "Oh… okay." He shook off his surprise and wrote the name in. "We're sitting in alphabetical order for-"

"I know, Mr. Ackerman." Historia smiled brightly. "We do that in every class. I'm already in the correct seat."

"Oh… kay." This school keeps getting weirder and weirder. "I have blunt- I mean, brought, textbooks for the class. You will get one as soon as everyone is here."

Historia tilted her head to the side curiously. "Okay."

As the minutes ticked by, more and more students filed in quietly. And of course, all of them were going in certain seats, probably in alphabetical order.

Then, Jean Kirstein walked in. Levi quickly looked straight. The tall sandy haired teen sat in the middle of the second row.

"Hey Jean, how was prayer last night?" A boy with a shaved head smirked.

"Shut up, Connie." Jean hissed. "It was the same as always: boring and a waste of time."

Another boy walked in. He was slightly taller than average, and he had black hair and freckles. All conversation stopped. Levi looked around, not sure what the hell was going on. Then he noticed Jean staring at the boy, and the boy staring back. Ducking his head, the freckled boy sat behind the brunette girl in the first row.

That must be Marco Bodt. Levi concluded.

Conversation started up again as if nothing happened. Then a tall brunette girl walked in, her eyes vacant. When she spotted Historia, however, she was overjoyed.

"Historia! You're in this class too?" She hurried over to the blond, hugging her tightly. "I'm so happy!"

"It's nice to see you too, Ymir." Historia giggled cutely. "So how was your winter vacation?"

Levi scanned the class of uniform-wearing students. They seemed like a slightly lively bunch.

With one minute to go until the late bell rang, Levi stared at two empty seats. One was in the very front of the first row, and one was in front of Jean.

Where are these two?

"Eren! You've made us late again!" A familiar voice shouted at a distance.

Levi's eyes widened. No… it can't be.

Just as the bell rang, Armin Arlert and Eren Jaeger ran inside the classroom, panting.

"Not late!" Eren puffed, slapping Armin on the back.

"Jaeger! Do you have any idea how many times you've been late for school this year?" Jean called him out.

"Well, I don't think it's been more than once a day." Eren smirked, looking up.

He froze when he saw his new teacher. Armin froze as well, fearing for his life.

"What are you two idiots doing? Sit down." Levi rolled his eyes.

The class giggled as Eren and Armin sat in their designated seats. Eren stared Levi down, as if he thought Levi would bring up the party. Levi ignored his glares and stood in front of the small podium.

"Well, we have lively roster here." Levi began. "Ohayougozaimasu. Good morning. I am Levi Ackerman. Thanks for enrolling in Japanese. You've given me a job."

The class giggled again.

"Today, I will make sure I know all of your names, we will go over the syllabus for this class, and we'll be going over basic Japanese mannerisms and introductions."

Levi stepped out from behind the podium with his sheet walking over to the first row. "Since you all took the liberty of placing yourselves in order, I'll just go by row. Name?" Levi stared at Armin.

"A-Armin Arlert." The blond stammered nervously.

Levi didn't say word. He just scribbled down his name and looked at the girl behind her. "Name?"

The girl's mouth was full. She was obviously sneaking food in her mouth. Everyone did their best to contain their laughter as she quickly chewed in swallowed.

"I'm Sasha Blouse!" She said enthusiastically. "Sorry about that, I was in the middle of eating when you asked my name."

The entire class face palmed at her frankness. Levi clicked his tongue as he wrote down her name. "In Japanese high schools, eating during class is not allowed. But I'm willing to let up, so if any of you want to eat or drink something, just ask me. I know what it's like not having time to eat in the morning."

Everyone gasped.

"We can seriously eat in class?!" Sasha asked, shocked.

"Only if you ask. And we'll learn how to ask for permission to do something a little later in the semester." Levi replied.

"Best class ever!" Sasha grinned.

Levi looked at Marco, who shifted uncomfortably. "Name?"

"Marco Bodt." Marco did his best to smile, but it was weak. He still had his mind on Jean.

Levi went down all the rows, asking for names.

"Reiner Braun."

"Bertolt Hoover."

Levi stared at Eren. "Name?"

Eren's glare intensified. "Eren fucking Jaeger."

"Eren!" Armin cried.

Levi had already written down Eren's name. "Well, Eren fucking Jaeger, you've just landed yourself a cleaning job. You are to come in early tomorrow morning and clean this entire room. Maybe the Windex will sterilize your foul mouth."

Eren scowled while the rest of the class whispered amongst themselves.

"Did the teacher just swear back?"

"This guy is obviously not from here."

Levi looked at Jean.

"Jean Kirstein." The long faced teen said boredly.

"You mean horse face." Eren spat.

Jean slammed his hand on his desk. "Eren, I swear to Go-"

"Golly!" Marco suddenly shouted.

Jean closed his mouth and sat back in his seat, realizing that Marco just saved him. Not only is swearing not allowed, but it is forbidden to say "I swear to God." It's like asking for a death sentence with the school's disciplinary staff.

"Everyone do me a favor and shut up while I'm taking attendance." Levi said, irritated. "If I hear one more wisecrack from any of you, the entire class will be joining Eren tomorrow morning in cleaning the classroom."

The class was dead silent. Satisfied, Levi continued taking roll.

"Annie Leonhart"

"Historia Reiss."

"Connie Springer."

"Thomas Wagner."

"Ymir."

Levi looked at Ymir curiously. "Just Ymir?"

"Yeah." The tall brunette shrugged.

"That's fine. I don't like to use my last name much either. Which means," Levi looked at the entire class. "I don't like being called Mr. Ackerman. It honestly makes me feel like an old man."

"But you are an old man."

"Jaeger, stand outside in the hall." Levi glowered. "I will address you in a minute."

Sighing grouchily, Eren stood up and walked out, slamming the door behind him.

"I-I'm sorry for Eren's behavior." Armin spoke up. "He's usually not this tenacious with his rudeness. It must be because you're new here. He's not this bad with others."

"I'm sure." Levi exhaled. "Like I was saying, don't call me Mr. Ackerman. At all. I know this school wants you to, but I don't. I don't mind being informal with you all. You can call me Levi. Or Levi-sensei. Sensei is the Japanese word for teacher. The only time you will ever be using 'Ackerman-sensei' is if it is in writing. So is that clear?"

"Yeah." The class mumbled at different times.

"Good. Also, you don't have to be completely formal with me. I tend to swear, so I'll allow it. As long as you don't offend anyone too horribly. So, I have textbooks for you all in the front of the classroom. You can all grab one now and look through it if you'd like. I will be right back."

Levi walked out of the classroom and shut the door behind him. Eren was leaning against the wall with his hands stuffed in his pockets. Levi stood in front of the brunette menacingly.

"Do not test my patience, Jaeger." Levi growled. "I will not allow you to cause chaos in my class. You are the student. I am your teacher. Deal with it. If you have a bone to pick with me, save it for after school. Then I'll have no problem kicking the crap out of you, Mr. Tough Guy. You haven't seen tough. Trust me. Now get back in that damn classroom before I mess you up."

Eren brushed past Levi and stormed back inside. Levi calmly went in after him, shutting the door softly. "Does everyone have books?"

Eren angrily stomped back up to the front, grabbed the last textbook, and went back to his seat.

"Good. Write your names on the inside." Levi told them. "Okay, so let's move on…"

~.~.~.~.~.

The hour long lesson ended as soon as it started. When the bell rang, the students were all talking about how cool Levi is. As Eren walked out, Levi whispered to him. "See you at the bakery, Eren fucking Jaeger."

Eren ignored him, hurrying out with Armin.

Levi spotted Jean still packing out and Marco about to leave.

"Marco. Stay here for a sec. You too, Jean." Levi told them.

Jean sighed, and Marco just looked nervous. The two walked up to Levi, making sure they were standing at least three feet from each other.

"Get closer together so I can talk to you properly." Levi told them.

They inched closer together, not make eye contact.

"I-I know. We're not supposed to be near each other." Marco blurted out. "We're far away alphabetically, so it'll be fine!"

Levi raised a hand, silencing the freckled boy. "If you ever need a safe place to talk about your situation, or need to place for you two to be together, just let me know and you stay in here."

Jean and Marco's eyes were as wide as dinner plates. "W-What?"

"There is nothing wrong with being who you are." Levi said. "Even if no one else does, I support you 100%. As one gay to another, you can find a friend in me."

"So you're…?" Jean trailed off.

"Yes. Do not tell anybody about these arrangements." Levi instructed them sternly. "And be sure to tell me before class if you want to stay. I will stay too and make sure no one interferes."

Tears welled up in Marco's eyes, but he quickly blinked them away. "Is it really okay…?"

Levi nodded.

"Thank you." Marco smiled widely, looking up at Jean. "Do you mind if we stay today? We don't have to go to prayer today."

"Of course. I'll make arrangements. Now go to class." Levi smiled slightly.

Jean and Marco awkwardly said goodbye to each other before walking in opposite directions.

Levi walked to his desk chair and sat down, sighing in relief that his first and only class went relatively well. There is one bump he needs to iron out with Eren. But that was about it.

I know I'm doing something dangerous. I could wind up in a lot of trouble by letting them meet up in here. But you can't force two people not to see each other if they don't want to. No matter what their sexual orientation is. That is unjust and discriminatory.

Levi ran a hand through his hair. Shaking his head, Levi got on the school computer and started creating worksheets and activities for his class.

I don't have to be at the bakery until 4, so I just wait around here until Jean and Marco come.

Levi felt uneasy as he busied himself.

What is this sinking feeling I'm having?

Schoolhouse Shock. Ha… puns.

Levi's class is actually inspired by my own high school experiences. Not the extreme religion, but the sass you got from Eren Jaeger. You know that one kid that always tries to sass the teacher? Yeah. XD Have any of you had those teachers that didn't care if you swore? If so, high five!

Consider this chapter a 'part 1.' The next chapter will continue this idea, with Jean and Marco sharing their experience with Levi and Levi having a heart to heart with Eren, finding out why he is so angry and rebellious. Yay! And you'll find out in later chapters why this town is so crazy. I'm dropping subtle hints here and there.

I uploaded chapter 2 of Let's Play: Eren and Levi a few days ago, and chapter 4 of Eyes of the Beholder was posted last week, so check them out if you want~!

If you've liked the story so far, add this to your favorites and alerts.

And remember...

REVIEWS ARE LIKE PORN TO WRITERS, SO SATISFY OUR URGES!

I really appreciate feedback. See you in the next one!

PRK