An unexpected upshot to meeting with Levi had been that in addition to the both of them trying to be more comfortable with one another, Levi was also able to get the rest of the Survey Corps to back off for the time being. His only contact with them since breakfast with Levi had been via text between himself and Hanji and it was mostly just Hanji sending him photos of cute kittens or telling him "fun" facts about their research. Other than that, his life had been blissfully normal for the past few days. He met with his adviser and got his thesis approved, he worked on and finished his lab reports in a timely manner and now he was actually getting a chance to hang out with all of his friends. Every so often they would do this; the heroes would take a night off and they'd all pile into one apartment (usually Marco and Jean's) and do a potluck and play games, have some drinks and just hang out. Ymir would inevitably beat Jean at Mario Kart repeatedly and Marco would have to intervene before it came to blows.

The night started out somewhat more subdued given that everyone knew something big was happening with Eren and the Survey Corps. He had begun to question whether or not he should have told them that anything was going on since he wouldn't put it past Sasha – and Mikasa before she was even healed – to go chasing down leads. The more he thought about it, the more concerned that he got about whether telling all of them had been the right choice. He supposed that it made sense to put them on alert, but at the same time it also put them in danger and that was something that he kept circling back to. Mina had gone after Thomas not knowing what the situation was and she had never come back, neither of them had. He wanted his friends to walk in with their eyes wide open if it came to that.

Regardless of whether he wanted to talk about it or not, his friends brought it up first and wouldn't let him back out of talking about it.

"So are you going to update us on what's going on with you and the Survey Corps and those Titan guys?" Eren was honestly slightly surprised that Sasha had asked first given that they had only just started eating. All eyes had turned to him and were looking at him expectantly.

"Can we just finish eating first and I'll talk about it after?"

"Fine, if you won't talk then I bet Mikasa will tell us everything, won't she?" Mikasa met Ymir's smirk with a cold glare.

"I know almost nothing myself other than that he spends a lot of time with Dr. Scientist and The Hawk."

"I haven't seen either of them in days!"

"But they're still around aren't they?"

"…probably?"

"So we can't see them but they can see us. How can you be so comfortable with that, Eren?"

"Because I'd like to not be kidnapped again."

Connie cleared his throat to get the attention of the arguing siblings and both turned to glare at him at the interruption.

"Just fill us all in already. You're the one who said that it was a good idea for us to know what was going on in case anything happens."

"Yeah, it's just…" It's just that apparently the guy Levi took down was told he could use any means necessary to bring me in, they just need me to have a pulse.

"It's just that what, Eren?" There was an edge to Mikasa's voice that made him cringe. He turned to the group to address all of them.

"There was a guy who was shadowing me a few nights ago and well, the Survey Corps" I donot need people to find out about Levi "took him out and apparently he was under orders from the Military Police to capture me and bring me back to them."

"No offense dude, but that sounds like a day in the life of Eren Jaeger."

"Connie!" Sasha smacked him over the head before addressing Eren.

"But something's different this time, isn't it?"

"Yeah, they aren't doing it to get Mikasa's attention and he was told that he could capture me by any means necessary. They just need me alive enough to be questioned…"

Mikasa choked on her drink and Marco went to pat her on her back while the rest of the group stared at him with varying degrees of shock on their faces – they were local heroes, they almost never ran into the Military Police in any meaningful way and certainly never had to deal with anyone kidnapping Eren for any reason other than to try and lure Mikasa to them. This was different.

"And somehow this all relates back to your dad?" Eren resisted the urge to snap at Marco about calling him Grisha but bit it back in favor of elaborating, he figured that if he was going to have to talk about this with Hanji and Levi then he might as well start off trying to talk about it a little bit with people who he had known for years.

"Yeah, something that Grisha may have been working on. I still have no idea how this relates to me. Maybe he was supposed to deliver something to them and took their money and disappeared? And maybe they thinkI fucking know where he is? Le –they didn't have much information for me. Apparently Commander Handsome is looking into things right now and doesn't want to say anything until it's clearer." Which is kind of bullshit if you ask me.

"So you really aren't much better off now in terms of what you know than you were a week ago." Mikasa's eyes narrowed. "I thought you would have had something given how much time you've been spending with them."

"So you've been hanging around with the freaks?" Ymir had an eyebrow raised, waiting for Eren's response.

"They aren't freaks!" Eren realized that he had been just shy of yelling and gave everyone a sheepish smile before continuing. "They've definitely got their quirks so I guess they're interesting but they aren't freaks."

"What about The Hawk, he's pretty awful from what I've heard."

"He really isn't that bad." Oh fuck… "I mean, at least he isn't constantly pushing me about Grisha. It's not like I can remember everything on the spot and Commander Handsome doesn't seem to get it; that it really isn't something that's easy to talk about." Nice save, also completely true…

"So he isn't as bad as his reputation makes him sound?" Ymir was leaning back into the couch now and Krista took the opportunity to rest her head on Ymir's shoulder.

"He's definitely still an asshole, but I honestly don't know what any of the rumors about him are…"He trailed off in confusion. Taking advantage of the pause in conversation, Krista looked up at Ymir who bent her head down to give Krista a quick peck on the lips before continuing.

"Well –"

"Hah!" Connie's sudden loud exclamation made everyone jump slightly. "I knew that the two of you were together!"

Everyone turned to look at Connie like he'd sprouted a second head.

"Well, duh. We've been together before we even met you guys." Ymir's tone was sarcastic but her face expressed incredulity.

"But the two of you never… you don't…"

"I think what Connie is attempting to say is that the two of you are never particularly demonstrative with your affections."

"Wow Sasha, pulling out the big words."

"Shut up, Ymir. Seriously though, Connie… did you even need to ask?"

Connie was sinking lower and lower in his seat going bright red while Sasha and Ymir poked fun at him. Eren laughed; he had always sort-of assumed that they were dating even if they never said anything about it. He scratched at the back of his neck in discomfort and happened to notice that Krista was sitting on the couch looking withdrawn while Ymir and Sasha continued to tease Connie. He shifted his seat so that he was slightly closer to her.

"Hey Krista, are you okay?"

"What? Oh yeah…"

"You don't look okay."

"It's just… things. Old things."

"Like what happened sophomore year?"

"Something like that yeah. Ymir's being a huge help again, it's just… tough. Kind of like what you're dealing with I guess. I don't have all the answers." She let out a melancholic sigh. "I just really don't want to deal with my family is all."

"Oh. Family problems for the win?" He tentatively held out a hand for a fist bump. She gave him a small grin as she touched her first to his and shook her head.

"I should stop Ymir before Connie dies from blushing."

"Probably a good idea."