Disclaimer : I do not own Shingeki no Kyojin / Attack on Titan nor its characters.

Lazily, Armin threw his phone to the end of his couch before he proceeded to drag himself to the washroom, to freshen up and hopefully wash away his bitterness and sourness from earlier on.

If only he had delayed a second more then he would have seen the new notification that popped up.

A message, from his ex, Annie Leonhart.

"Annie, wait! You can't just break up with me on the phone!" Armin yelled through the phone. There was agony and at the same time, confusion that lingered in his tone. He and Annie had spent many months together, as lovers. He had dedicated time for her. He had brought her out for dates. He had stayed committed to her. So, for Annie to call him out of nowhere and tell him that she wanted to end things was rather unreasonable and unexpected.

"I figured you'd say that," Annie murmured, "Meet me at the park in an hour. I'll explain everything." Before Armin could voice out his thoughts any further, she hung up, leaving her ex-lover in a state of shock and hurt.

"Why am I remembering this now?" Armin groaned silently as he stepped out of the shower. His past relationship with Annie wasn't relatively long or short, regardless, while it lasted it was heart-warming in its own way. When it ended, it was like a winter's storm, cold—but just like any storm, it eventually went away. He wondered how she was doing anyway, they hadn't chatted for a long time—mostly due to the awkwardness, and the protectiveness he received from mostly Mikasa when she had found out about Armin's first heartbreak.

He still remembered what Annie's main reason was for their split—those words were practically imprinted in his brain. He couldn't erase it even if he wanted to. He didn't like to remember it. Those words were the last thing he wanted to be reminded of.

The blonde made his way downstairs, and with his towel wrapped around his hair, he plopped himself back down on his couch and reached out for his phone—to only discover that its battery died. "This day is just going great." He uttered out sarcastically before forcing himself to sit up. "Well, maybe I could read a boo—"

The sound of a doorbell ringing had cut Armin off, reminding him of Jean's visit. If only it was Mikasa or Eren, but Armin knew those two had things to settle on their own, things that he shouldn't and couldn't interfere with. Heaving a heavy sigh, he dragged himself out of the couch before snatching the towel wrapped in his blonde hair, placing it around his neck and shoulders instead.

"You can do this Armin… Jean isn't a particularly bad person… I hope…" Armin grumbled as he placed his hand on the doorknob. Oh, he really didn't enjoy socializing too much— especially with Jean, who wasn't on good terms with Eren in the slightest. Slowly twisting the doorknob, he chanted mentally to himself not to judge a book by its cover. Despite Jean's seemingly threatening outer appearance, he could be a nice person… right? He won't take out his anguish of Mikasa's rejection on him, right?

Again, irrational fears were consuming him, but Armin knew better to give in to this feeling of reluctance and fright. The faster he let Jean in, the faster the project would be done and he would be able to reread some books he favoured. Taking one last deep breath, he forced his hands to twist the knob open and immediately stepped aside upon seeing Jean. "Come in…" He welcomed with a small nervous smile.

Jean gave a small nod before entering his house, and Armin could already feel the damn, cursed and dearly resented awkwardness. This was the first time he and Jean would be obligated to hold a proper conversation, and hell, he hoped no disagreements would break out between them. "Nice place you have." Jean said as he took a quick glance around, "Are you home alone?"

Armin nodded, and just as he was about to talk, Jean continued, "Alright, I'll leave as soon as your parents come back. I don't want to interrupt anything. When will they—"

"You don't have to worry about it." Armin said calmly, though he was caught off guard on the fact that Jean didn't know about his family history, given the fact that numerous nasty rumours had sprouted from it once upon a time in school. "I don't have parents, at least not anymore." He mumbled the last part silently, yet there was a hint of casualness in his tone. The topic of the death of his parents definitely evoked gloominess in him, but it wasn't something he couldn't grow used to—at least that's what he told himself. In reality, he couldn't exactly be adapted to the emptiness lingering in his house when he was all alone. Even so, he knew that there was no point crying about it anymore. At least, not in front of a stranger. He didn't enjoy appearing weak to anyone, not to mention strangers.

As silence began engulfing the room with its sidekick, awkwardness, Armin could've already guessed the reason behind it. Looking up to see Jean's reaction and expression to such news confirmed his reason.

"I-I… um… oh, uh, I'm sorry. I didn't know- I, well…" As his group partner began to stutter, Armin oddly felt assured. Well, it wasn't because he felt any satisfaction from witnessing him wallowing in guilt, but rather, at least he knew that he had a heart and wasn't a threat unlike those bullies. Unlike Jean, those sort of people, would just torment him after registering the words Armin confessed in regards to his family life.

"It's okay." Armin chuckled slightly, in the hopes of lightening the mood. Armin didn't understand why he had spout out the fact that his parents weren't around anymore to him rather than beat around the bush and lie. It's not like he wanted to seek pity from others. Jean would've probably found out the truth if he was meticulous enough anyway, considering in the corner of his living room had his parents' pictures hanging on the wall with the words, 'Rest In Peace' clearly engraved on the frame.

Jean still wore an uneased look on his face, something that displayed that he was truly apologetic about Armin's family circumstances. "Are you sure? I didn't remind you of... well—"

Armin was quick to cut him off, "Don't worry about it, really. I mean, um… Mikasa and Eren visit me often so it's fine. Mikasa lives next to me, so it isn't really that lone—"

"Wait. Mikasa lives next door?!" Jean gasped.

'Oh crap.' Armin thought silently in his mind, he should've organized his thoughts before mumbling out random things that had the chance in putting him in an unfavourable situation. The blonde didn't understand why he was spilling out such information about his life, it wasn't like him to be open. It wasn't like him to express himself so much to strangers. Perhaps his anxiousness was getting the best of him and triggering him to say these things. Jean's presence was slightly intimidating after all. But at the same time, he didn't feel so threatened by him. Well, the reason didn't matter at this point. Armin knew very well that words that had been spoken out, can never be taken back.

On the bright side, the topic of his parents' death was switched to something else. "Uh… I mean…" Armin laughed a little nervously. "Let's start with our project—"

"How could you not tell me?!" Jean groaned before grabbing Armin's shoulders, shaking him slightly. 'I don't even know you…' was the first thing that came to the blonde's mind, but he knew he shouldn't say that out loud. "Damn you… you lucky bastard…" Jean spoke, before staring Armin right in the eye—and the blonde couldn't identify whether his stare was out of envy or rage or both. But he knew one thing, that he was too close.

"Uh… too close…" Armin squeaked, he was having second thoughts on the 'sort-of non-threatening' opinion he had formed on Jean. "Ah, sorry…" Jean apologised awkwardly, upon realization how… well, weird he got after the mention of Mikasa. "It's just… eh, I didn't expect Mikasa to be righ—wait, that reckless bastard doesn't live next to Mikasa, does he?" The male growled.

Once again, Armin noticed a flame sparked in Jean's eyes. This, he recognized— it was jealousy.

"He lives sort of nearby… but not next door or anything. It's a ten or fifteen minute walk, I think…" Armin murmured, "But I think he's with Mikasa now… working on the project so—"

"He's next door?! Alone?! With Mikasa?!" Jean groaned, "That lucky bastard… ruining my chances with her…"

Armin couldn't help but give a small roll of his eyes, but he also couldn't help but relate to him just a little—but not to the huge, exaggerated and fiery extent. He also noticed Jean's usage of words—how he viewed Eren as a competitor for Mikasa's heart, just Eren. Not him. He then shrugged it off, it wasn't anything new to him or was anything he was unaware of, yet it did sting him a little—the reminder of having lost, rejected even, a long time back.

Out of the blue, Armin's eyes lit up at the sudden memory that Jean had just been rejected by Mikasa, and now he felt his curiosity pounding him. After all, despite Mikasa's rejection, Jean evidently seemed as lively as ever—something that he couldn't quite compute. He expected Jean wouldn't have had the energy or will to show up to his house for the project, considering he would've probably been reminded of Mikasa due to Armin's presence, since he was friends with her and all. He expected Jean to just cry in a corner or be at the gym punching his feelings out—something along those lines. After all, it was obvious to almost everyone that he had an infatuation of Mikasa. It didn't take long for Jean to notice Armin suddenly staring at him for a prolonged period with eyes that screamed curiosity. "Uh… Armin?" He called out, shooting the blonde a weirded-out sort of look.

"Oh, ah, sorry... I was just… thinking about something..."

Suspicious, Jean raised a curious brow. "About…?"

Armin parted his lips, but closed them instantly. He knew he had to think twice about asking such personal things. He didn't want any arguments breaking out because of a foolish question. But… Armin wanted to know. He wanted to know Jean's perspective so badly. He wanted to know why he didn't seem like affected by Mikasa's rejection. He wanted to know what… it felt like, to be rejected verbally by her. He didn't know why he wanted to know these things. These sort of things were unexplainable. Besides, considering Jean didn't seem sullen in the slightest meant that there was no hard feelings, right?

Armin just wanted to know. What Jean would say wouldn't make a difference in his pathetic love life at this point. Armin knew. He knew he lost, he knew he was rejected a long time ago the moment he noticed how Mikasa's gaze differ with Eren. It was a silent, unspoken sort of rejection. Even with all that, the blonde couldn't just… let go completely—and he hated that.

And despite being rejected by Mikasa in a silent unspoken way, he oddly wanted to know how it would possibly feel to be rejected by her verbally. He didn't know why—maybe he just wanted to make himself feel better. Who knows?

If you love someone, you should be satisfied with seeing them happy, even if it's with someone else, right?

If she was happy with Eren, then who cares, right?

It was the only 'selfless' thing to do, right?

Yet, Armin felt differently. No matter how much he denied or refused to acknowledge it, there would be this bitterness stirring inside of him. He didn't like to think about it much, he felt disgusted at himself because of this—that he couldn't be happy for her… or maybe, he just wasn't happy with himself, his cowardly self.

Clearing his thoughts away, Armin decided to ask. He decided to deal with whatever consequences later that he may or may not regret. Heaving a heavy sigh, he spoke, "I was just wondering how the rejection went with… Mikasa?"

Ten steps away. Eren was ten steps away from arriving at Mikasa's doorstep. A minute went by, followed by another three. He was still ten steps away. The male was hesitant—and even reluctant to take another step as ironic as it was, considering he was the one who wanted to meet up and sort things out. Yet, he was the one hesitating.

"Come on Eren… It's Mikasa for crying out loud!" Eren groaned silently to himself. He wasn't normally this nervous or apprehensive. Hell, he wouldn't be nervous in the slightest when he would get called to the principal's office. In fact, he had talked things out with Mikasa on several occasions. Then again, those conversations never lasted long, and they never dived into the depths of one another's emotions towards the particular topic. Those conversations would normally just start with him saying things like, "I just don't like when you're so overprotective of me. I can take care of myself." And after a minute of going back and forth, Mikasa would say something along the lines of, "I just don't want you hurt." Before the conversation would end with apologies from both parties.

There were moments Eren would question to himself about why she wasn't so overprotective over Armin, then again, Eren had to admit he did start some fights. Armin never started a fight, but he never exactly backed out from one. He wouldn't strike a punch, he would swallow up his tears most of the time, other times he couldn't control it. However, he barely ever submitted to the bullies. The only times he actually 'surrendered' was for the sake of them both. To Eren, he viewed Armin as a little timid, shy and even fearful of standing up for himself. But he would never label him a coward. The cowards Eren hated was the people who didn't have the guts to admit their mistakes and the people who ran away when things got tough. To Eren's knowledge, Armin wasn't the type of person who would run away to leave his friends in the dust.

If only Eren knew that Armin was running for so long, that he had been running away from an obstacle he refused to face. His feelings.

Taking a deep breath, Eren took another step forward. Just before he could dwell on his thoughts any further, his ears caught an awfully familiar muffled voice. Perking his head up, he rushed towards Mikasa's door, finding it to be unlocked. The muffled noises soon became clearer and discernible, and the conversation happening behind the closed doors was anything but amicable.

With his hesitance diminished in a blink of an eye, he opened the door to see a familiar face that evoked a frown from his lips along with a low growl that attracted the attention from both Ackermans.

"Levi Ackerman." Eren hissed.

Before Eren's arrival and interruption, Mikasa had been asking her brother to leave. She couldn't bear to see him. It ached her heart and soul to see him. But more than anything, it surprised her that he even came back, it surprised her even more that she felt some form of throbbing pain within her. She had thought that she had let go of the hurt that Levi left her with along with the isolation he had also gifted her.

"I want to fix things." Levi spoke.

The calm tone laced with those unexpected words ignited a certain vexation within the younger sister. He didn't sound genuine, he didn't sound like he regretted what he had done to her—what pain he left her to deal with, alone. He sounded the same as years ago, as if nothing had changed between them.

Everything changed.

The feelings of hurt that weighed Mikasa's heart slowly sparked the burning frustration. She was never good with emotions, neither was he. She didn't know what was going on in Levi's mind or heart that made him want to reconnect with her. She didn't even know the emotions that stirred within her. She was angry, yet sad. Such contradictory and conflicting emotions were enough to wear her out, and it would have, if it weren't for the indignation that kept her wide awake.

"It's too late for that." She responded.

She had intended to sound pissed, angry… or even shoot back the same irritating calm voice he used. Yet, as those words left the tip of her tongue, they sounded pained. They sounded glum. They sounded as if it were from someone who got betrayed— which wasn't too far off from the bullseye.

She hated herself for that. How could she let such a vulnerable tone slip out? Not to mention, in front of him, out of all people. Mikasa turned her back afterwards, hoping that he would respect her wishes that she saw as reasonable—hoping that he would just run away and leave her like how he did before.

But he didn't. He didn't do that. He persisted some more, but his tone was anything but what Mikasa wanted—no, needed to hear. That's how the argument broke out.

"I said leave!" The younger sister became desperate, as if her pride drained out of her, she allowed her tone to sound pleading. She just wanted him out of her sight. She didn't want to see him, she couldn't. Not now, not when she was so unprepared. But, unfortunately… he still persisted.

"Mikasa, I'm your brother, I don't—"

"That brother left me years ago." And now, she snapped back at him. Her emotions were all over the place, like a hurricane. They were in a mess. She was jumping from one mood or emotion to another. Perhaps it was her hormones—she actually wished it was. But the reasoning behind the agonising tone she used now was more than trivial things like that. Now, that tone was accompanied with tears that edged towards spilling.

That's when Eren welcomed himself in.

"Levi Ackerman." He hissed.

Eren had been angry several times. But hell, that anger had tenfold if it were even possible, and that anger was soon to burst into something unpleasant. Once upon a time, the brunette had looked up to the male before him with admiring eyes—those admiring eyes were now replaced with resentment and hate.

Levi turned, he was neither fazed nor disturbed about Eren's abrupt presence. He had the same plain look, though his eyes did widen a little in surprise. "Eren." Levi said simply, "Don't bother us. This is family business."

"You are not her family." Coldness quivered in Eren's tone as he rushed over to Mikasa's side, becoming the wall in between the two siblings. "And you are not welcomed here."

Clicking his tongue, Levi narrowed his eyes. "This is legally still my home. I—"

"Then we'll leave!" Eren exclaimed rashly, before grabbing Mikasa's hand and dragged her towards the door. The brunette didn't know what he doing or where he was going to take the raven. But he knew for one thing—she shouldn't be here, in the same room as the male who claimed to be her brother. Someone as distant as him shouldn't be her brother.

However, before he could leave, Levi had gripped Mikasa's other free hand, halting the two teenagers in their steps. "I said, this is family business. Stay out of it, brat." Levi said, his tone hinted threat. But threatened was the last thing Eren could feel, especially with the rage boiling in him which only increased upon hearing that 'nickname'. Eren shot a glare at Levi, but his attention was quick to redirect itself to Mikasa when he noticed her fragile state. Her hands were trembling and her tears were beginning to spill. It was clear, she was torn.

The female raven thought she had threw and disposed of any emotions in regards to her brother. She thought she didn't care about him anymore. She thought she could just forget and erase him.

Today, she realized that that wasn't the case.

"Let… me go." Those word were the only thing she could force herself to say to Levi. She slowly looked up to Levi, and the pain she had expressed all over caused the brother to release her hand, though with some hesitance. Eren, however, didn't hesitate to continue to drag her out. But before that, the raven's ears caught a sudden soft tone of someone familiar.

"Mikasa, Wai—"

It was the soft and gentle tone of the brother she knew years ago. Why did he suddenly express that now? But it was too late, Eren had already slammed the door on their way out before she could hear what he had to say, or see whatever his face expressed—if it had any emotion.

Many questions began to fill Mikasa's mind.

Why did Levi come back? Why did she feel so broken when she saw him? Why did she still care for her brother? Why did he leave her…? Why?

Despite having such personal questions, only one left her lips. "Where…. are we going?"

"Home." Eren didn't hesitate to respond, "Far, far away from him."

Author's Note: Please leave a review! On another note, ahhhh! I'm sorry this took so long! I had personal stuff going on and writer's block… again. Plus, my exams are next week. So there's that haha… :(. Although, I hope this chapter is good and satisfactory.

Also, more importantly, I may change some things in the previous chapters (Unconfirmed if I will, for now.) Only because I feel like I confused Eren's character a little with his whole dislike towards cowards, to which I feel like I inaccurately expressed that idea. I wanted to convey his dislike towards cowards that beat up people then run away from the mess they left as they fear to face the consequences—something along those lines. Sigh, oh well. We'll see, I would have to review the previous chapters before I decide on what to do ;-;

Please leave a review, I would love to hear any thoughts, criticisms or answer any questions/confusions you have!