Chapter Two: I Knew You Were Trouble

Mikasa plops into her seat in the middle of the classroom and lets out a sigh far too heavy for the beginning of a new semester. She rests her head on her hand, slouching over her desk with closed eyes. It's only the third day of her final semester of undergrad and she has never been more tired than she is right now. The chatter in the room is relatively quiet since the class is mainly freshman that are still trying to decide if they even want to talk to each other.

She opens her eyes ever so slightly to see Eren walking into the room, two coffees in hand. She doesn't even question the double coffee thing, instead her eyes focusing in on the red scarf that was tucked into his coat.

He makes his way through the cluster of desks to the one directly beside her again, sliding into the seat and holding out one of the coffees to her wordlessly.

She blinks, trying to decide if she's seeing this right. They've texted a few times since Monday and seemed to get along pretty well, but getting her a coffee? She supposes it's not the grandest gesture in the world; he does work at a coffee shop afterall. It was probably free.

She reaches out and grabs the cup from him, wrapping her fingers around it and humming quietly at the warmth. "Thank you," she says softly, taking a small sip to test the heat. It doesn't burn her tongue, so she settles on taking another sip.

It's a mint mocha latte.

He doesn't reply and instead winks at her before turning away to pull his things out of his backpack.

"Do you have another class soon?" Eren asks the moment class ends.

Mikasa shakes her head, "No, not for another few hours."

"Good," he says, "You're coming with me."

"You already got me coffee today," Mikasa says matter of factly as the duo steps into Trost Coffee Spot.

"I know, but I have work in an hour and I wanted to actually talk to you. Also it's warm in here, which is way better than out there," he nods towards the window and Mikasa's eyes do a quick sweep over the freshly fallen snow they just escaped from.

"Talk to me?" she questions.

"Yeah," he drops his backpack haphazardly on the group and sits down, his hands patting the table to signal for her to do the same.

She follows his lead, although she's a little more cautious with her backpack.

Once she's settled, Eren begins to speak again. "Tell me about you," he says, leaning forward, chin resting on his palm.

This close, Mikasa notices more about him. His skin is a perfectly toned olive and she can see his collarbone peeking out from beneath his shirt now that he's removed his coat and scarf. His arms are nicely toned, although she already knew that from her first night in the coffee shop when she was a only a little tipsy, thank you very much. His eyes are a deep turquoise that remind her of every summer vacation in Greece. The water is brilliant shades of blue and green that never end and are so clear you can see everything in the sea. She feels warm, but she doesn't know if it's because of the thoughts of the warm summer sun or his intense gaze.

"What do you want to know?" she says after coming out of her thoughts.

"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Mikasa laughs at the question but still answers, "Lawyer."

Eren's eyebrows raise, "Huh, interesting."

"Why?" she replies, tilting her head and smiling, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

"I'm studying to be a doctor," he leans back in his seat.

"Doctor? I guess we're both a little hardcore. But why are you in entry level genetics then? Unless… don't tell me you're a freshman?"

He snorts and then feigns horror at her question, "How could you, Mikasa? That's the worst insult I have ever received!"

She laughs, ignoring the way her heart flutters when he says her name.

"No, no, I'm a senior. This is my last semester. I still needed one more gen ed and genetics is cool. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess you're not a freshman either."

She shakes her head, "No, no, also a final semester senior. And also taking genetics for the reason."

He nods, thinking for a moment. "Enough about school. Tell me something else about you."

"Um, well," she pauses, trying to think of something, anything, interesting about herself, but nothing comes to mind. She finally sputters out, "I've known my roommate since we were five."

Eren smiles (and holy shit does he have a good smile), "I think we're the same person." He points with his thumb over his shoulder towards the kitchen, "Blondie in there is my roommate that I also have known since I was five. But, that's not really about you, tell me something about your family or something. Any siblings?"

"I have an older brother, Levi. Both him and his wife are journalists for Trost Daily. You?"

"Older half brother. His name is Zeke. He's in his final year of his residency program at Trost Medical."

"Ohh, a family of doctors. Fancy."

Eren rolls his eyes, "You have no idea. My dad is also a doctor. My mom is the only one who's not. She owns a restaurant not far from here. I kinda thought about being a chef for a while but I think food is more of a hobby."

"You can cook?"

"Pretty well, although nowhere near as good as my mom," he shrugs.

"Maybe you could make me dinner sometime? My roommate is the best cook I know so you'll have to try pretty hard to live up to her," Mikasa tries to keep her face as neutral as possible. Did she just ask him on a date? She hasn't been on a date in at least three years and has no intention of starting again now, not with law school right around the corner. She's also known Eren for a grand total of what, four days? She shifts in her seat, trying to play it cool. She didn't ask him on a date, but a cooking content with Sasha. Yeah, that sounds much better.

"Your mind is gonna be blown, I promise!"

Some nerds in a coffee shop, living their best lives.