"You can stay for as long as you like," Connie said, opening the door.

Jean whistled. "Connie I didn't know you were so rich!"

Eren looked around the mansion with awe. It was mostly marble, with the roof open and lined with gold. There were intricate marble pillars, marble stairs—though the edges were covered with carpet—and near the back was a gigantic pool that had to be no shallower than eight or so feet.

"This is only the front porch," Connie said, grinning.

"Connie's mom was a realtor," Sasha said, "and his dad an actor. So he's got it made."

"If you're so rich," Mikasa said, "why are you working?"

Connie scratched his head. "I didn't want to be a realtor or an actor—but I did enjoy journalism, and cop shows."

"But you didn't go interview Armin," Jean said, "because you got too scared."

Eren rounded on Jean, pissed. "Armin is a crazy mass murderer who messes with your head. He had every goddamn right in the universe to be afraid of him."

"Guys—" Connie tried to interrupt, to no avail.

"I would have done it," Jean said, "and I wouldn't have pissed him off either—because let's not forget this is your fault!"

"Damn you—!" Eren went to throw a punch, but Mikasa stepped between the two of them.

"You're being rude," she said, "We're guests here. Connie didn't have to take us all in."

Eren hung his head. "S-sorry Connie."

"Y-yeah," Jean said, looking away.

"I-It's alright," Connie said, "A-anyway, this place has state of the art security—my dad is an actor after all. It's not Secret Service perfect, but it'll do for now."

"So he can't get in here?" Christa asked.

Connie scratched his head. "He probably wouldn't risk it, because there's too high of a chance of getting caught, not to mention the publicity of everything. But I'd rather not use can't."

"Because it eggs him on," Eren said, "yeah…"

"And you would know all about that, Yeager," Jean muttered.

"Hey shut the fuck up Kirstein," Eren growled.

"You're doing it again," Mikasa said, "stop it."

Connie laughed. "Good thing this place is so big…easier to avoid each other."

Eren couldn't agree more.

"It sucks Annie couldn't come," Connie said, sitting down on the massive couch.

"I'm surprised, honestly," Sasha said as she opened a bag of potato chips and sat down next to him. "Seeing as she was the one who saw Armin…go crazy. I mean, what we saw at the office was probably only a fraction of what he could do…"

"Don't worry," Connie said, "even if he was dumb enough to come here, I'd protect you."

"Get a room guys!" Jean shouted as he disappeared into the kitchen.

Connie stuck out his tongue at him and wrapped an arm around his best friend, who cuddled closer. "We are in a room—besides, this is my parent's house!"

"Where are your parents Connie?" Eren asked.

Connie sighed. "They're…they passed away a while back. Car accident."

"I'm so sorry," Mikasa said.

"Don't worry about it," Connie said, "It's alright."

There was an awkward silence, and then Jean came back in the room with some food. "Wow," he said, noticing the change in mood. "Who died?"

"Connie's parents," Sasha said bluntly, eating some more chips.

"I…I…I'm sorry," Jean said, looking uncomfortable.

"It's alright," he said.

Another awkward silence.

"Oh!" Connie said, "I need to show you guys the eighty-inch plasma screen! I have literally every game console known to man and chimp connected to this."

"Man and chimp?" Eren asked, confused.

"My aunt's a renowned scientist," he said, "and created a gaming console for monkeys. She got me one for my thirteenth birthday as a joke."

"Damn," Jean said, "You've got it made."

Connie merely shrugged.

Sasha got up and grabbed the large remote off the table. "Here we go…it's HDMI 3 for the WiiU, right?"

"Yeah," he said, "and don't forget to add the music when we showcase the remotes!"

"Yeah yeah I know," Sasha laughed, waving a dismissive hand.

I'm not going to kill anyone here yet, but I can guarantee this will not be our last time together.

Eren sighed. He didn't know what's going to happen, but he knew that he had to keep an eye out for him. Connie said his house had state-of-the-art security, but not Secret Service perfect.

He was starting to think that anything less than that wouldn't help.

At all.