"Put down, 'Cried at my college graduation'"

"Ymir, how long are you going to tease Jean about that?"

"Yeah Ymir, when are you gonna man up and admit you cried too?"

"I didn't cry about graduation shithead! I cried because that awful gown covered up Historia's A+ figure!"

"Bullshit – you weren't even looking at Christa!"

"How would you know, were you looking at me? Gross I don't swing that way buddy."

"Ymir! Jean! Can you guys be serious? Ymir if you aren't going to be productive, then leave us alone."

"-Like I'd leave you two alone together. 'Sides he's a big boy, he can fill out his application by his self."

Christa sighed. The three of them were huddled around her coffee table, filling out job applications together and things weren't going as smoothly as she had hoped.

As time passed, the three of them (along with Sasha and Connie occasionally inviting themselves to hang out) had all gotten really close. After meeting Armin and Hanji and the others, Christa had toyed with the idea of joining the Scouting Legion – and the longer she had thought on it the more she realized it was something she was really interested in. Of course, wherever Christa went, Ymir went too and so they switched majors and that was it.

Jean was a different matter. He hadn't been sure of his major to begin with, and after some gentle coercing on Christa's part, Jean realized that that line of work interested him too. It wasn't just that though - the past two years had given him plenty of time to think and get his thoughts in check.

He had seriously been hurt back then, with the whole Armin/Christa debacle, and the childish part of him just wanted to mope and be pissed and just hate Armin with every fiber of his being; except he didn't hate Armin – not really. At first, he had told himself he did. But he'd woken up one too many times, with his heart thumping in his chest, and erotic images of a man he couldn't say he even knew lingering in his thoughts. So he broke down and admitted, okay, he liked Armin. But he told himself that didn't matter, because he couldn't really like someone he didn't know. His heart, as Christa had put it, seemed to disagree.

'You need closure,' she had said, but Jean thought applying for a job at the same place Armin works was a little much.

Actually, he didn't even know if Armin was still working there. It'd been a long time after all – for all he knew, Armin had forgotten about him completely and moved on.

Connie had gotten his hands on Eren's Facebook awhile back, but the brunet refused to share anything and Hanji, for all she was worth as a chatterbox, had told Christa it was against protocol to give out information about their current and past employees.

Well, even if Armin wasn't there, Jean was still interested in the job. If Eren could do it, then Jean could too. Though he wished Armin was there, because they really needed to talk.

Jean wondered if he got to see Armin as a man if his feelings would change. Jean didn't think he was gay; but then again, he had been dreaming about the blond for the past year. He'd never actually seen Armin naked though, and Jean's dream Armin was pretty feminine - flat-chested - but still feminine.

Well, whatever - now wasn't the time to be thinking about it. He couldn't really exactly face the past fling - was it a fling? - he had with Armin if he couldn't get the job.

"So, how you liking the trainee division?" Eren asked and Armin scowled – he hated when Eren said it like that, he made it seem like he was a trainee himself.

"If you must know, it seems to grow worse and worse the longer I stay. Were we as bad back then when we were trainees?"

"You weren't Armin, but Eren was." Mikasa cut in, taking her usual seat across from Eren.

They were at a local diner in town - the same diner they met at every Saturday morning to have breakfast. After the fiasco with Jean, Armin had been asked to be moved to the mentor section of the Scouting Legion, where he would teach people that were in training. It was just a temporary thing, he hadn't planned on staying long, but one of the teachers had quit and now he was stuck.

"Hey! What the heck Mikasa?!"

The blond smiled at the two before sighing. Armin knew he had been away for too long if he was missing Eren and Mikasa's banter.

Hanji had told him that they were looking for a new mentor and that maybe Petra Ral in department affairs would take the mentorship, but even if she did, Armin would still have to train the next batch of people that came in so Petra could get in the swing of things.

Well, beggars can't be choosers – and he'd put himself in this position in the first place. It was just, after all that had happened he had felt he needed a breath of fresh air to help get his mind off things.

Armin couldn't say he was completely over Jean, but he was getting there. He'd actually been really good lately – before, Jean had always been on his mind, and now Armin could go days, even weeks, without thinking of him once. It hurt to think of him, and Armin knew it was better to let go, but it'd been harder than he had anticipated. Still – he was making progress – he was getting there.

He wasn't ready to find someone else per se, but he didn't feel so tender anymore. There was no use pining over someone who most likely hated him, Armin knew that, and so he used it as fuel to get past it.

It just pained him that even though it'd been so long, he still wasn't completely over Jean. But where he was at now was enough. His chances of ever meeting Jean again were slim to none, and so long as things stayed that way he wouldn't have to face the facts. For now, this was enough.

"Any promising new recruits?" Hanji asked - barging into Levi's office, said man not even bothering to look up at her as she did so.

"… Seems like it. Things are going to get interesting around here."

"Hmm?" Hanji walked around Levi's desk to peer at the folders he was looking at, "How so?"

"Tell me Hanji, do these names look familiar to you?" he thrust several applications into the brunette's face, who sputtered and snatched them away so she could read them at a distance.

"Oh," she breathed as she read the name on the top of the first resume, before breaking out into full blown chortles as she flipped through the pages, "Aha yes, you're right – it'll finally be less dull around here. I can't wait!"

A/N: Well that's it. Since I decided to make a sequel, a lot of substance was cut out of here and now it ended up being just a small thing that sets the stage for what is to come in the Sequel. As for when that will be out, I don't know yet. Hopefully soon. I'm actually really excited for it so maybe I can get back to updating more frequently then I had been towards the end of this.

Well, thanks for sticking with me for so long and I hope you enjoy the soon to come sequel.