A/N: I've gotten a couple reviews about how excited people are for the Levi/Eren and I'm just giving you a heads up that it's just like just a sprinkle of it. I don't think I write them too well so. xD Sorry.

Also. Holy hell. I just looked on fanfiction and realized my last update was August 25th. Dang. I hadn't realized it had been that long! Oh man I was slacking more than I realized. I'm sorry. :(


Levi was a man of little words. He was more of an observer if anything. Of course, he detested a person who stuck their nose into business that wasn't their own – even if he himself had been guilty of such a thing before. In his defense, he felt he was justified. Because you see, as a teacher here at Trost private school, and a close friend of headmaster Irvin Smith, Levi was fairly confident this was part of his business. Of course, there were other forces at play here – for instance his other job, but that's a story for another time.

He had pretty much learned about the three undercover students their first day on campus, though that had been purely coincidental – he had originally been on his way to talk to Irvin when he happened to overhear the conversation.

They were pretty shitty at their jobs if you asked him, one would think someone who served as a spy for a living would be able to notice if someone was lingering outside the door. No matter, this just made it all the more interesting for him.

So after calling up a friend – who chattered far too long about stuff he'd rather have lived without hearing – he'd learned his fair share about the three. He'd pretty much known their names – as he had heard them introduce themselves – but the added information was nice too. Like for instance how the one with the really nice ass was going to be in one of his classes and, most importantly, was legal – not that that came as a surprise.


Mikasa was never one to mix her private life with work, but she couldn't help but be worried about Eren. The conversation from the other day – in regards to the teacher that was harassing Eren (not that Eren even said the teacher was harassing him) – kept replaying in her mind and the longer she thought about it, the more she felt something needed to be done.

With the first step being to figure out which teacher was the thorn in Eren's side – she started with checking his grades, all of which were pretty bad, and then moved on to checking his attendance list. For how much Eren had complained about having to attend class, he sure did show up to the majority of his classes.

There was one though, where he had been marked tardy and absent several times and so it was a safe bet that that particular class was the one he disliked. A quick look at the teacher's name told her everything she needed to know – this was the man she got bad vibes from.

It had been her first day on the job, and she had been standing in the lounge, carefully eyeing each and every person in the room. She was calculating weights and heights and doing body profiles to see if anyone here was physically fit enough to potentially kidnap someone.

"Who pissed in your cheerios?" someone asked and Mikasa snapped her gaze forward- seeing nothing – before allowing her gaze to drop down on the small man standing in front of her. She hadn't even noticed him walk up, and quite honestly that irritated her. Still, that was hardly a reason to snap at someone – never mind his crude question – and so she bit back whatever potentially insulting greeting she had been tempted to say.

"I beg your pardon… sir?"

The man hardly looked pleased with her response, and judging by his soft sigh and pointed look, he was used to his brash comments being overlooked.

"Forget it," he said, still not moving away and Mikasa was beginning to get unnerved with the way he kept staring up at her with annoyance – she hadn't even done anything, so why did this guy have to look so pissed.

'No one told you to come talk to me,' she thought when he sighed again.

"You're blocking the coffee machine." He finally said, when it was obvious Mikasa wasn't catching the hint to move out of his way and now Mikasa really had to restrain herself because honestly, was it so hard to say something? A little, "Could you step aside please?" too much for him? Add on the fact that he had just expected her, just because she was a teacher aid and not a teacher herself (or so she seemed to think, never mind the fact that she wasn't even really a teacher aid either) to move.

"Sorry," she bit out, before moving aside.

'I don't like this guy.'

Admittedly, just because the guy was a little socially awkward and rude (she was in the same boat herself actually) she shouldn't dislike him as much as she does, but for some unfathomable reason he just grated on her nerves. Maybe it was because the other teachers were kind and so in contrast he just seemed awful, but she found herself heavily disliking him.

His personality was lackluster and he was blunt, crude, and generally terrible company. And he was definitely the type of person she wanted to keep away from Eren.


Jean was currently in his bedroom, sitting cross-legged on his bed with his laptop on his lap and a pad of paper and pencil sitting next to him with the words 'The Perfect Date' scribbled across the top. To say he was doing extensive research would be an understatement.

He wanted this – no, he needed this – to be the best date ever. Of course, "Christa" had stressed the fact that this was, in fact, not a date, but the way Jean saw it, if it was amazing enough, then the girl would want it to be.

And the first step to an amazing date would be the venue. His first idea had been dinner and a movie – the classic. But the internet had pretty much called him a moron and told him that was a big fat no - because two people couldn't get to know each other, apparently, if they were sitting quietly in the dark for two hours. Jean disagreed, in his opinion; two people could get to know each other really well in the dark, if you caught his drift. Christa wasn't like that though, and honestly he wasn't interested in a girl like that anyway, so the movie idea was out.

So in order to pick the best place to go, Jean did the logical thing and looked up the top ten places for a first date. There were things like golfing and bowling and that seemed pretty cool to him and wow, he hadn't known that hiking was a good first date idea. Oh, but it said not to bring a high-maintenance girl and Jean didn't think he'd ever seen "Christa" in anything other than a skirt and she always smelled really nice and so he guessed that was out. Plus he didn't think getting bit by mosquitos was very attractive anyway. And there was also the chance that he was an axe murderer (he wasn't, he figured he'd know if he was) and was trying to lure Christa out into the woods and yeah, not a good idea.

In the end, Jean went with aquarium. Those were pretty cool right? He hoped so. He hadn't been to one since grade school. Fortunately there was an aquarium downtown and a quick Google search said the tickets weren't too expensive. More expensive then bowling though. Whatever, Christa would be worth it.

Now that he had a place picked, it was time to decide on a place for dinner, and what he should wear and he didn't have a car but downtown wasn't too far of a walk, and he didn't think Christa would mind. Maybe. Now he was having doubts.

"Why is this so hard?!" he screeched, tugging at his hair in frustration. He knew he was being a little overdramatic but… "Christa" is the prettiest girl he's ever met and she is smart and pretty and honestly too good for him, but he really, really wants things to work between them. Even if it meant being just friends – though he'd much rather prefer actually going steady with her. And as it was, this was his only chance to prove to the girl that he'd be a really great boyfriend and that he's so much cooler than Reiner. Sure he wasn't as muscular and nice as Reiner, but Jean thought he was pretty good.

"I have a great personality, and my face is pretty good – better than Reiner's," he grumbled, absently scrolling on his computer.

"This date has to be perfect," it was his new mantra and served as his motivation. And with that thought, he started making a list of things to do on the date.


Armin was the one who had suggested going hiking. And Reiner had been pleasantly surprised.

"You don't seem like the type of girl to enjoy things like this," Reiner said as they walked the trail at the park. He had a backpack with him filled with water bottles, snacks, and their lunch. It really wasn't hiking, per se, rather a walk through the trails before a picnic by the river. It was a pretty nice date if you asked Reiner.

It was entirely different for Armin though. He only suggested walking because it meant no crowds, which meant he could talk to Reiner freely without being interrupted. The picnic was Reiner's idea, and Armin didn't mind too much because again, no crowded restaurant, which meant more observing and information gathering on Armin's part.

Armin laughed lightly, "Well there's something soothing about the outdoors," he said, "Don't you agree?"

Armin had his hair pulled back in a low ponytail, and was wearing his only pair of jeans, which (in his opinion) were uncomfortably tight and he almost missed wearing a skirt. He had some high-top converse on (which weren't even proper walking shoes and was it so hard to ask for a measly pair of tennis shoes?) and a long, baggy button up that reached his thighs. Nothing fancy and yet he could see Reiner stealing glances at him every few minutes and it was unnerving and yet flattering at the same time.

"I guess so," Reiner answered and Armin hummed in agreement.

"So Reiner, how long have you been going to our school?"


Eren stood angrily outside his microbiology teacher's office – waiting for the guy to arrive. Last time he was in class, the man had asked him to come see him whenever he was free and so now here he was. There was a ninety-nine percent chance he was going to be scolded and the brunet was not looking forward to it. It was a hassle he'd rather not deal with, and Eren almost regretted skipping class so many times. In his defense though, the teacher was not pleasant at all and the information even less so. And now he would have to come up with some bullshit excuse as to why he was doing so poorly in class and it was more effort than it was worth. He was eternally jealous that Mikasa got the easy job of teacher aid and didn't have to attend class every day. He'd taken his fair share of college courses; he didn't want to take more. Not to mention, microbiology? It's not like he'd ever use something like that. Who even enjoyed it enough to teach something like that? Mr. Levi did it seemed.

Eren snickered, "It makes sense for a tiny guy like him to teach a class about microscopic junk."

"Would you like to try saying that again?" Levi asked and Eren flinched before looking down at the teacher in surprise – he hadn't even noticed him walk up.

The brunet chuckled nervously, "Uh… No?"

"That's what I thought," was the clipped reply, before he was unlocking his office and walking inside, expecting Eren to follow, who did so without fail.

"I suppose you know why I called you in here then?" Levi asked before Eren even had time to take his seat.

"It's about my grades sir."

"Yes, and what about your grades?"

"They're not so good?"

"Not so good is an understatement. Shitastic is more like it."

Eren chuckled dryly. He'd forgotten how blunt his teacher could be.

It wasn't that Eren disliked Levi; it was more of a, he didn't want to be in this situation in the first place, kind of scenario. Eren was sure that if he were an actual, legitimate student then he would no doubt put more effort into the class, but unfortunately things weren't like that.

"Right…"

"Keep it up and you'll fail."

Well, technically Eren couldn't fail, but he couldn't really say that so he chose to just nod along. Eren had always been hot-headed and a part of him just wanted to yell for Levi to get off his case (and while Levi was being pretty tame right now, the majority of class was spent with him calling Eren an idiot for not understanding the material) but that would probably land him in more trouble and it really wasn't worth it.

"Tell me Eren, how far are you willing to go to bring your grades up?"

Eren blinked in confusion, not sure if he was taking this out of context, of if his professor was maybe, possibly, hitting on him.

"Excuse me?"


Reiner's story was pretty solid. And by that Armin meant the bigger boy had not said a single suspicious thing and was proving to just be pleasant and Armin was beginning to think he had seriously misjudged the guy. He wasn't bad at all, and while Armin had never had reason to be suspicious of him, he couldn't help it. So far it seemed like his gut feeling was wrong.

Armin sighed, and when Reiner turned to look at him in curiosity, he flushed when he realized he had done so aloud.

"Do you not like the sandwiches?" he asked and Armin shook his head.

"Oh, that's not it – it's really good."

Reiner frowned and Armin panicked internally.

"Sorry, I was just thinking about class. I'm really having a great time," he lied smoothly and Reiner eyed him for a second before nodding in acceptance.

They were currently sitting under a tree, eating lunch. Reiner had gone the whole nine yards and set up a blanket for them to sit on and everything.

Today felt like a waste of time for Armin. He had fun, yes, but it irked him a bit that he came away with no leads. But then again what did he expect? For Reiner to suddenly confess that he was a bad guy or something? Well, he supposed it wasn't all for naught. Reiner was pleasant and once Armin got that background check back, he could cross the man off his suspect list. Which reminded him…

"Oh hey, Reiner?"

"What is it?"

"You went to that party the other night right?" he asked and Reiner nodded. Armin smiled.

"Ah see, I thought I saw you but I wasn't sure. I wanted to say hi, but I saw you talking to some guy and I didn't want to intrude, so I decided not to."

"That's too bad," Reiner said after a moment of silence, "You should have. Bertl wouldn't have minded."

Armin's smile widened, it was really easy to get information out of people.

"Bertl?" he asked and Reiner nodded.

"Yeah, he's my friend. We've known each other for a long time."

"That's always nice. I haven't seen him around though; does he go to our school?"

Reiner shook his head, "Nah." And Armin frowned internally when he didn't say anything else on the matter.

"Well I'd love to meet him sometime," Armin said and Reiner stared down at him before offering a lopsided smirk.

"Yeah? Well that can be arranged. The three of us can get together sometime."

And Armin wasn't sure why, but he couldn't stop the shiver that ran down his back.


Eren almost wished Levi had been hitting on him. It would certainly be better than this. This being him cleaning out some old storage closet on campus.

"Why am I doing this again?" he asked and Levi shrugged.

"Cause you want less shitty grades?"

Eren groaned, "I know that, but what does this have to do with micro biology?"

"Nothing. Just wanted you to clean this room for me."

"Why?"

"Cause I want to use it for storage."

Eren felt like screaming, what storage did he need?!

"Hey if you're gonna do it – do it right."

Eren huffed, he was sorting boxes is all, was there really a wrong way to do it? He didn't think so, but Levi was another story.

Levi, for his part, was having a pretty good time watching Eren gripe and moan. Not to mention the view of the kid's ass was pretty nice too. You could call him a terrible man, but this was fun. It's not like he was doing anything bad, anyway. A little manual labor never hurt anyone. Levi was actually surprised how gullible Eren could be. Who had detention in college anyway? No one as far as Levi was concerned. Despite Eren's bad grades and poor attitude, he wasn't so bad. Levi could see why Hanji liked him so much.

Speaking of Hanji, she'd asked him how things were going recently and he'd yet to respond.

He'd have to do that before she started hounding him about it.


There were still a couple of days until his unofficial date with Christa and Jean found himself in this perpetual state of anticipation. Fortunately classes kept him distracted and the chaste conversations he had with the girl helped stave off his excitement. There was also the fact that Christa had given her number to Reiner and Jean often found himself wondering about if they'd gone out already and how it went.

So one afternoon he stopped by the café and asked the bigger boy how it had gone. According to the blond it had been great and they had a wonderful time and he was planning on hanging out with her more and Jean was torn between being happy for the two of them, or crawling under a rock and crying, or maybe kicking something in frustration – that would work too.

At the same time, he found he also had the motivation to prove himself to the blonde girl even more and so once he got home that evening he looked up do's and don'ts for dates.


Saturday afternoon, Armin found himself sitting on the couch in Eren and Jean's dorm, listening to the two boys argue about who was better at what, and wishing the two would just admit they were friends already.

They were both acting a bit strange, a little fidgety and Armin wondered if something had happen and if they were just using each other as a way to vent. He had an inkling of a feeling as to why Jean was acting weird, but as for Eren he hadn't the slightest clue.

He'd been showing up to class more, Armin knew that, but he didn't know why and while he wanted to know he did not bother asking because Eren would tell him whenever he was ready. He wondered if maybe it had something to do with that meeting he had with Mr. Levi, but Armin didn't have any semblance of an idea as to what could have possibly happened for Eren to be so… maybe skittish was not the right word but it was all Armin could think of. The first day after the meeting he had seemed fairly angry but as the week progressed the anger died down into Eren's current sketchy behavior. Well, so long as the brunet wasn't causing any trouble, Armin figured it would be alright to let it go.

"Whatever, I'm leaving. Let's go Christa," Jean suddenly said, snapping Armin from his thoughts, who blinked up at the taller boy before nodding.

"Hey where are you two going?" Eren demanded and before Jean could say anything Armin answered.

"We're going to hang out for a little bit." He said as he stood up, patting his skirt down in the back before grabbing his purse. He gave Eren a look that told him he would explain later, but the boy just chuckled.

"Alright, have fun on your date," he teased, smirking at Jean who immediately flushed before yelling.

"It's not a date!"

Just as Armin responded with his own fierce denial, "It isn't a date."

Jean turned to look at Armin in shock, whose cheeks were burning from embarrassment before he averted his gaze to the floor when he realized how hurt Jean had looked at his words.

'Stupid,' Armin thought, 'You said it too,' But while Jean's denial had been that of embarrassment, Armin's had not. He sighed internally; here he was trying his best to not hurt Jean's feelings and that's all he seemed to be doing.

Eren looked between the two boys in confusion before chuckling awkwardly at the tension in the air, "Right, sorry," he apologized and Armin nodded before stiffly walking towards the door, Jean following him.

"I'm sorry," Armin apologized once they were out of the room.

"It's okay." The brunet responded, but he certainly didn't look okay. His face was scrunched up in what might have been a funny expression if it wasn't so obvious to Armin that he had seriously hurt the other boy's feelings and he was just trying to cover it up with a smile.

"No it isn't," Armin said, stopping to turn to look up at Jean, "I know you like me, so it was cruel of me to be so harsh earlier." It had been his intention to say more, but he stopped when Jean's whole face turned red.

"You… You knew I liked you?"

He seemed surprised and Armin might have laughed at his reaction under different circumstances, "Which is why I told you we'd be going out as just friends. I didn't want to get your hopes up Jean."

"Oh," Jean said and Armin watched as he clenched his fists and frowned, "So I take it you don't like me then?"

Armin wondered how much courage it took Jean to say that and he had to bite his lip in frustration.

'You don't like me,' he thought, but he very well couldn't say that and then he found himself at a loss of what to actually say. On one hand this was an opportunity to get Jean to give up, on the other hand… Armin knew that if he were in Jean's place he would not have had the courage to ask what the other boy had. He was pretty much setting himself up for rejection. And the worst part of it all was Armin actually kind of liked Jean, but as a friend. And Armin had to wonder if he hadn't been playing a role this whole time if maybe he would have reciprocated Jean's feelings in a romantic sense.

"I…" and he would probably, no, he was sure he'd regret this later, "I do like you Jean. Probably more than I should. It's just that I'm not interested in a relationship right now."

Jean didn't look too thrilled however, so Armin grabbed his arm gently and offered a smile, "I really do like you Jean."

"… thanks," the brunet responded, offering a small smile of his own before gently shaking Armin's arm off and walking down the hall. Armin frowned before jogging slightly to catch up.

"If you're going to mope our entire date," he said, Jean really was easy to please if his raised eyebrows and slowly forming goofy grin was anything to go by, "I'll just go hang out with Eren instead."

Jean scowled at the mention of the other boy before looking at Armin curiously, "So it's a date then?"

Armin bit his lip, "Yes," and before Jean's smile could get any wider, "Only this once! Don't expect another chance!"

Jean smiled cockily, "Don't worry – I'll only need this one."


They decided to go to the aquarium first, and Armin chattered by his side excitedly once he'd found out where they were going. Jean felt pretty confident now that the girl seemed to be so excited and he found himself able to push that conversation from earlier out of his mind. He didn't think "Christa" pitied him or anything. Her eyes were pretty expressive and after knowing her for nearly a month he found he could tell if she was enjoying herself or not. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't hurt about the girl so vehemently denying this was a date earlier, but looking at her now he had to wonder if maybe she had just been embarrassed and that's why she had responded so negatively.

Actually, he'd never even heard "Christa" raise her voice before today, and so maybe that had been what had shocked him the most. Eren had seemed pretty shocked too and Jean didn't know if that was a bad thing or not. The blonde typically seemed to be such a kind girl, and – this could be his high hopes speaking – Jean thought, maybe, if he really didn't stand a chance with her, she would have let him down gently a long time ago. Especially since she apparently knew he'd liked her the whole time. But then again Jean hadn't really been too subtle.

Jean shook his head. He'd think about it later. Right now, he had a date to woo.


"Did you know jellyfish can range in size from bigger than you, to the size of a pinhead?" "Christa" asked, smiling up at Jean with sparkling eyes.

"I didn't."

"Yup, the largest jellyfish found had tentacles about fifty yards long! They're really resilient too! They were around before dinosaurs were and there are even some places in the ocean where only jellyfish can survive."

Jean never would have pegged the girl as an information nut, she tended to keep quiet and Jean was usually the one doing all of the talking. He didn't mind though, it was really cute the way she got so excited and her eyes would light up and she'd go off on tangents and then when she'd realized she was talking so much she would blush and apologize and Jean felt better about his decision to bring her here. It was an obvious hit. The online sights said she would think it romantic and that they could hold hands while they looked at the displays in low light and while that had not, and probably would not happen, Jean didn't think this was such a bad alternative.

"Christa" seemed to have something to say about almost every animal they saw and Jean was sure he'd learnt more about aquatic animals then he'd ever wanted to know, but it was alright by him. As they got closer to the bottom level and some of the last exhibits, Jean noticed their pace was slowing and that the girl was lingering behind.

"What is it?" he asked and she blushed (Jean almost did too but that was because 'wow this girl is so cute and gorgeous and we're on a date together').

"Nothing. Are you having fun?"

"Yeah, aren't you?"

"I am. Do you think we could stay here a bit longer then?"

Oh. Oh so that was it. She was having so much fun she didn't want to leave. That was actually really cute.

"Sure. I don't mind."


Armin was honestly having way too much fun. He hadn't expected Jean to take him to an aquarium of all places and honestly he'd assumed they'd see a movie or something. Not that Armin minded, he actually preferred this over a movie. It'd been a long time since he had the chance to just relax and do the things he liked so this was a nice change of pace from his usually hectic schedule. Plus Jean was listening to all of his ramblings and didn't seem to mind and if there was anything Armin loved, it was to share his knowledge with others.

He hoped he wouldn't get in trouble for going out with Jean like this, but he didn't suppose it poised too big of a problem. Well Ymir might have something to say about it, but the company he worked for wouldn't mind. He was still a bit worried about how Jean might be taking this. Of course, he had gone and said it was a date, but he made sure to tell the other boy that this would be a one-time thing. A part of him felt bad, and he knew come tonight he would scold himself for not just letting Jean down when he had the chance, but for now he would ignore those nagging feelings.

He knew that by the time it was all said and done, that Jean would get hurt and he felt awful about it but… things were a bit different now. Because Armin would be hurt too. He really, really shouldn't have gotten involved with Jean. But he'd tried to be nice (after all Christa was apparently a goddess incarnate) and now things were like this.

They were currently sitting at a small family diner, nothing too fancy, and as the excitement from earlier in the day wore off, Armin was beginning to feel awful. It shouldn't be any of his concern what happens to Jean after this job ends, but now he knows Jean will definitely be hurt. Another part of him, a small part that he keeps pushing to the back of his mind, wonders if once Jean meets the real Christa if he'll like her too; Armin wonders if Jean can look past what had happened between himself and Jean and if he can accept Christa freely. After all, none of this is Christa's fault and Armin would hate for her to get hurt because of something Armin had done. He hoped they got along, and he hoped Jean wouldn't feel too betrayed by the time this was all said and done. He wondered if maybe Jean would wind up liking the real Christa as well. The thought made him squirm and Armin had to take a sip of his drink to distract himself from the feeling.

Jean was telling a story about some guy named Marco, his old roommate who transferred apparently, and the time he'd dared Connie to streak through the campus and Armin laughed at the appropriate times, but he was hardly listening.

"Today was great," Armin muttered and Jean visibly brightened despite being cut-off mid story.

"Really?"

And really, it was. There were a couple odd moments where Jean had used a mediocre pick up line and kept on sneakily (thought Armin had noticed anyway) glancing at a scrap of paper. It had been after the third odd gesture that Armin had snatched it from him and then laughed when he realized it was a do's and don'ts list. He had been able to count four things which Jean had already done and it was endearing how embarrassed the brunet had gotten. Over all though, it had been a pretty great date.

"I'm glad," Jean confessed, "I actually worked really hard on making sure this would all go so well."

Armin smiled sadly, trying not to frown – now he felt even worse.

"It's getting kind of late. We should go."

"Oh sure," Jean said before digging out his wallet and gesturing the waiter over. After they had paid they started walking back to campus and Jean offered to walk him to his room which Armin accepted.

When they got to his door, Armin thanked him for the night and Jean just chuckled nervously.

"Christa," he said and Armin peered up at him curiously.

"What is it?" he asked, only to be cut off by the ring of his cellphone, "One second," he said apologetically before digging for the device in his purse. From where Jean was standing, when Armin pulled the phone out of the bag he could see the name Reiner flashing across the screen.

Armin forwarded the call before putting his phone away and smiling sheepishly.

"Why… why is Reiner calling you so late?" he asked before he could stop himself.

"Oh well we've hung out a few times during the week. He was probably just calling to see if we could hang out again."

The answer didn't sit well with Jean. Especially since, as far as he had been aware, they had only hung out once and now he'd learnt they'd hung out several times in one week? It really wasn't that big of a deal, because there was a ninety percent chance hanging out meant lounging at the coffee shop but Jean couldn't help the twist of jealously that coiled in his gut.

When Jean didn't answer Armin said, "Well I should probably call him back, so I'll see you later Jean."

"Wait!" Jean called, before stepping forward, "Let's hang out again sometime."

Armin bit the inside of his cheek. He still felt guilty about all this and plus nearly a month had gone by and he really needed to start focusing on work more.

He was trying to think of a way to respond when suddenly Jean said, "I'm going to kiss you."

What? What?!

"What?" Armin yelped in surprise – where had that come from? He quickly waved his hands in front of his face, but the brunet just caught his wrists and stepped forward once again so they were almost touching.

"I like you a lot Christa," he said and Armin froze as one of Jean's hands lightly cupped the back of his neck, "And I think you might like me too. So give us a chance." And then Jean's hand was sliding from the back of his neck and with his pointer finger he tilted Armin's chin up and placed a chaste kiss against his forehead.

"I get jealous when you talk to Reiner and I know I shouldn't, but it's because I really like you." Then he pulled away and hurried off before "Christa" snapped out of it and he got punched or something.

And Armin stood outside his dorm room feeling incredibly happy and terribly miserable all at once.


Sometimes, when Mikasa was working overtime grading for some of the professors, Bertolt would be there too. They usually worked quietly and for wasting a Saturday night he didn't seem to mind all that much.

It was as Mikasa was packing up her things, getting ready to leave for the night, that Bertolt's phone rang and he apologized before hurriedly excusing himself to take the call. He stepped out into the hall so Mikasa found herself standing with her bag awkwardly, not wanting to disturb him if he was having an important conversation. It was when he'd been out there for well over five minutes, and Mikasa had been listening to indistinguishable rapid fire whispers for far too long, that she got fed up and decided she would just leave, be it rude or not.

"What are you doing?" Bertolt whispered loudly and Mikasa froze because the tone the man had used wasn't that of one of casual conversation. She pressed her ear towards the door, intent on listening in, when suddenly Bertolt sighed and there was the distinct sound oh his phone clicking shut and so she quickly stepped away from the door before he could walk in.

"Sorry," he apologized again.

"Okay," was her response before she was slipping past him and out the door.


Sunday morning Jean woke up in a state of bliss, followed by one of panic when he realized exactly what he had done. A kiss on the forehead wasn't too bad, but it had been pretty bold and the only reason why he had done it was because Jean felt a strong urge to remind the girl that 'hey, I'm a pretty good looking guy. Look my way and not Reiner's'. He hoped she wasn't mad and he hadn't stuck around long enough to find out, but he was sure she was and 'oh god what if she tells Eren' and that thought was enough to make Jean roll out of bed and leave the room before Eren could say anything to him. He figured he would lay low in one of the more secluded areas on campus, lest he face the wrath of Eren, and it was as he was cutting between a makeshift alley between two school buildings, that he spotted Reiner at the end of it talking with that one really tall guy he was with at the party last week. Jean ducked behind an air ventilation system and strained his ears to listen. He was hoping they were talking about Christa, and they were, but it definitely wasn't what he had expected to hear.

"She's really sweet," Reiner was saying, "We're going to hang out again in a few days."

It was quiet for a moment before the other guy was saying, and it was hard to hear, but if Jean concentrated it sounded something like, "You're… You're doing this to get closer to her right? To kidnap her?"

But that couldn't be right. Could it? The guy was joking wasn't he?

"We can hold off on the plan can't we Bertl?" Reiner asked and Jean almost turned so he could sneak a look at them, "I think she might like me. If I can woo her a little more, she might even go willingly."

What were these guys talking about? Jean felt like jumping out and asking them what the hell kind of game they were playing but… he didn't want to hear anymore and so he snuck back the way he came before running back to his room.

He had probably been pacing around the living room area for almost an hour now, trying to make sense of what he overheard and wondering if maybe he should tell someone. But who would believe him? He could hardly believe it himself, but Reiner had sounded so sure of himself and the longer he thought about it the more he felt like it wasn't a joke.

"What the hell are you doing?" Eren asked and Jean froze, not even realizing the other boy was there, before resuming his pacing.

"Hey don't ignore me!" and when that still failed to cause the reaction he wanted Eren frowned, "Hey… is something up?"

Jean stopped again, looking at Eren and debating on if he should tell him or not. He was positive the other boy would laugh at him but on the other hand…

"Say figuratively," he started, "That a person overhears this conversation. And there's like a hundred percent chance the people he heard talking were joking, but the guy isn't so sure and he doesn't know if he should tell someone about it or not."

"It depends," Eren responded, work attitude in place, "On what that person heard."

Jean hesitated, "Well…"