The mountain was looming closer. Eren squinted his eyes from the sun, wincing as he felt a wave of heat. "There aren't any titans here, are they?"

Rivaille scowled. "Don't look at me like I'm the fucking encyclopedia!"

"What?" Eren protested, throwing his hands up. "I'm being cautious!"

Rivaille sighed. "Titans, idiot, are not mice. We can hear them coming from a freaking mile away! If there were any, we would know. And here. We're almost at the mountain."

Eren looked suspiciously at the rock. "Will this really hold our weight?"

"Why not?" Rivaille grumbled, "This is a freaking mountain."

"But-there's this weird thing on here-"

"Forget it, brat! We'll get going sooner if you stop talking!"

Eren sighed and followed after the corporal. "Hey, Rivaille." He asked as they were almost done climbing. "Where are we going, anyway?"

Rivaille paused, looking at him in surprise. "You don't know where we're going?"

Eren shook his head.

Rivaille snorted. "Well, of course we're going-" He stopped. "..Where the hell are we going?"

Rivaille paused, loosening his grip on the rock. "Where are we going?" He repeated to himself, eyes wide. "Where the fuck are we going?"

"Are we going to travel forever?" Eren asked him quietly, climbing up to his side.

"No, of course not.." Rivaille laughed uneasily. "We're going to..the ocean! Right!"

Eren bit his lip. "But..what's going to happen..after we reach the ocean?"

Rivaille opened his mouth to respond, but closed it after a while. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."

"Maybe..we could sail across the ocean?" Eren whispered in his quietest voice, looking up at Rivaille to see if he heard. The other had kept on climbing; he hadn't heard Eren.

Eren sighed and followed him, wincing as ash and dust fell from Rivaille's boots.

As they got closer to the top of the 'mountain', the faint humming roar grew louder and louder.

"…thanks…not…than..other!"

"What?!" Eren screamed; he couldn't make out what Rivaille was saying. The tumor below him seemed to suck in sound waves, making everything harder to hear.

"THANK GOD THAT THIS MOUNTAIN IS SMALLER THAN THE OTHER ONE!"

Rivaille yelled, screwing his eyes shut against the sun. It was on its way down the sky now, so the heat rays were even closer to them.

"RIGHT!" Eren coughed; his throat had become sore from the volume. "WILL WE HAVE TO YELL LIKE THIS THIS WHOLE TIME?!"

"I don't fucking know!" Rivaille muttered.

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

"I DON'T FUCKING KNOW! HOW ABOUT, YOU AND I STAY TOGETHER, SO WE DON'T HAVE TO YELL, OKAY?!"

"…THAT IS ACTUALLY A REALLY GOOD IDEA!" Eren hurriedly tried to climb up to where Rivaille was. The other sighed impatiently as he waited for him, and Eren could hear him muttering things like-slow-ass brat, I could've jacked off by now, killed a titan, ordered Hanji's execution, and others that Eren was too scared to mention.

"Hey, Hey!" Eren panted as he finally caught up to Rivaille, collapsing by the other. "Should we tie ourselves together?"

Rivaille snorted. "Why?"

"So that we don't have to get separated!" Eren protested, already reaching for his bag, when-

"Did you forget, brat? I used up all the rope trying to restrain you." Rivaille grumbled.

"…Ah. That sounds kinky-" Rivaille kneed him in the stomach.

"Hey!" Eren coughed. "I thought that the purpose of this was to make sure that I didn't die!"

Rivaille shrugged. "I changed my mind. Killing you would be easier."

Eren laughed. "You're just joking, aren't-" He whimpered. "Aren't you?"

Rivaille rolled his eyes and started climbing again. "yeah, yeah."

Eren climbed after him quickly. "Hey! Wait up!"

Suddenly, his foot bumped against something hard. "Shit-"

Rivaille whipped back around to look at him. "What happened?"

Eren winced, rubbing his foot. "My foot bumped into something.."

Rivaille raised his eyebrows. "That's it? I thought a titan bit you or something, judging on that scream."

"it wasn't that loud!"

"Yes, it was." Eren gave up on any effort to reply. He knelt down-(the best he could on a sloped surface) and brushed aside the ashes, eyes widening as his fingers scraped against a hard edge. He frantically started digging, not caring if his fingernails got chipped. Now Rivaille was by his side, helping him. When they'd finally dug the box-actually, it was more like a trunk. It had four locks along the edges, each a different size and shape.

Eren hissed as he looked at it. "well, we're fucked."

Rivaille rolled his eyes. "Haven't you ever heard of lockpicking?"

When Eren was about to protest-say that it was a horrible sport for the weak or something-Rivaille stopped him. "It can come really handy later in life, you know." He cursed as he dug into his pants pocket for his lockpick, feeling little grits of dirt around the inside lining.

He came up with a thin steel rod, examining it and holding it up to the light. "..This'll do."

He knelt down and brushed the dirt away from the locks, blowing the little grinds that refused to go. Taking the first lock-which for some reason, was clover shaped-he started picking at it, jabbing and twisting it from different angles. After a few minutes, the lock broke open with a faint click sound. Rivaille sighed as he saw the other three that were waiting for him. "Is this even worth it?"

Eren nudged him gently. "You never know! It could be..buried treasure, or-maybe even gold! Who knows, there could be a secret titan killing recipe in there!"

"..Recipe?" Rivaille deadpanned, and Eren flushed. "Forget it."

Rivaille chuckled lightly as he fingered the next lock. Eren wrapped his arms around the other man's neck, rocking him gently in a back and forth motion. "Hey," He asked after a while. "This is okay, right?"

Rivaille looked up at him-curse the brat for being so dammed tall-"..I won't ever finish opening this fucking trunk if you keep on doing that." When Eren quickly released him with a teasing-"go on", Rivaille would never admit it, but he missed the warmth of the human-titan.

Brushing the next lock, which was a queer diamond shape, he had it open in seconds.

And the next was a beautiful flower-

And the last was quill shaped, which puzzled Rivaille to no end. "Who the fuck would get a quill shaped lock?"

Eren looked over his shoulder. "Maybe it was a scholar who did this! A scholar who-um, studied titans! Yeah!"

Rivaille snorted. "In your dreams, brat."

Eren laughed. "No, I dream about other things at night." His hot breath tickled Rivaille's ear.

"Do you honestly want to do it on a mountain?" Rivaille asked him in disbelief, raising an eyebrow.

Eren flushed. "N-No..of course not." Rivaille just rolled his eyes and flicked open the quill lock.

Eren jumped in anticipation as Rivaille started undoing the hinges, wincing at the rust that flickered off in copper strips.

Eren's eyes widened in shock as he saw the name embossed on the inside of the trunk. In shining gold letters, it proclaimed-

Grisha Jaegar

~X~

Armin sighed as he dismounted from his horse, wincing as his leg joints creaked; he'd definitely been riding for too long. As Jean and Mikasa got down easily, Armin looked at them with jealously-how could they make it look so easy?

Jean unpacked a few bags from the saddlestraps, taking out some food and a canister of water. After taking a few sips, he handed it to Mikasa, who took it gingerly.

"There's some food.." Jean mumbled to Armin, pulling a crumpled bag from the saddle.

He handed it to him, and Armin looked at the bag with distaste, smacking it away. "Talk," he demanded.

"I-" Jean stuttered, throwing his hands up.

"You promised." Armin hissed.

"Right…" Jean exhaled, sitting down on the grass beside Armin. Mikasa went over to them, closing the cap on the water canister.

"The titan..that you saw."

"What about it?" Armin pressed, shifting closer. Jean looked awkwardly at the space in between them.

"Titans..throw up, right? Because..they have no digestive organs." Jean finally got out.

"Right." Mikasa nodded, closing her eyes.

"I was swallowed whole."

Armin gulped, clutching his 3D maneuver belt.

Jean opened and clutched at his empty hands. "There was a knife that I had..more of a blade, actually, that..Marco gave to me." He breathed out.

"As I slipped down the throat, I used that knife to press against the lining of the.." Jean groped for words, snapping the grass with trembling hands.

"We all have a uvula, that thing in the back of the throat.." Jean pointed aimlessly to his mouth.

"It stimulates the gag reflex!" Armin breathed in realization.

"That's how.." Mikasa made a strange hand motion. "You got thrown up."

"Basically, yeah." Jean tried to smile. "the vomit dries really quickly, so I got..stuck, per say." He laughed sheepishly. "And then the cult passed by, and they thought that I got 'born' from a titan, I guess." He shrugged. "I was crucified!"

Armin let out a shaky laugh. "..Right.."

Mikasa stared at Jean for awhile. "You..are actually quite smart." She finally admitted, allowing herself a small smile. Jean looked at her in surprise, and then a light blush colored his cheeks. "T-Thanks."

Armin was looking at Jean when a pang of something stabbed his chest. He blinked in surprise and clutched his chest; the feeling kept overlaying and multiplying. What is this? Am I going mad?
"Eh? Armin? Armin? Are you alright?" A soft voice asked. An hand shook his arm carefully.

"Don't touch me!" He snapped, knocking it away. He saw the hurt face of Mikasa before him, eyes trembling in shock. Ah..that's right. His pupils widened in realization. That's the same thing that Eren would always do..when Mikasa tried to make him feel better. And then-

He would always go to Rivaille. Not her, not me, not anyone but Rivaille.

"Ah, I'm fine." He hurriedly said, trying to reassure the girl. "I'm fine, just-a little dizzy from writing so long."

Jean looked at him in concern. "Then, do you want to wait for a bit longer? Or should we just continue riding now?"

I would rather die than be a burden. Armin smiled. "No, I'm fine. Just a little bit shaken." He got up, legs trembling slightly. "Anyway, should we go? Jean? Mikasa?"

Jean eyed Armin's legs warily; they were shaking, knees knocking together. But instead of protesting, he agreed. "Yeah..let's go."

Armin held out a hand to Mikasa, offering to help her up. She looked at Armin in surprise, then smiled softly and took it. "Thank you," She murmered, voice soft against the forestall orchestra.

"Anytime."

Jean whistled sharply to them. "Oy! Idiots! The horses are going to run away if you two linger any longer!" Jean was feeling immensely irked for some reason, but he brushed it off. It was probably the heat that was getting to him.

I'M SO SORRY FOR THE SHORT CHAPTER. I GOT DISTRACTED. *cries*

Anyway…HOW WAS THE 14th episode, guys? *hahahahRivaillee*

*squuuu* It was so adorable when Rivaille kicked Eren's tooth halfway across the room..being his usual sassy self. XD (I'm sorry)

Am I the only who says "adorable" over and over again when Rivaille's beating Eren up?

AND WHEN RIVAILLE SLAMMED EREN IN THE FACE WITH HIS KNEE I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS HIS CROTCH. …Apparently not. *crowd boos*

Anyway..I got distracted with The Game of Loveagain..yes, I know. I'm sorry. BUT WRITING A HIGHSCHOOL AU OF RIVAILLE AND EREN IS SO FUNNNNN

Until next time! Ja ne~!

K.K

Reviews make me type at the speed of lighting. Literally. *kaboom*