Armin looked over at his two friends walking beside him. The fabric of Eren's hoodie grew darker as the rain fell on his left shoulder, Mikasa's translucent umbrella was too narrow to shelter both "you're awfully quiet" the blond stated. There was an underlying tension that Armin couldn't quite demystify. He drew his eyes to his own umbrella watching the shadows of the droplets slide down the material. A distracted apology was delivered in unison. They were heading toward the main building, to attend their first class of the semester, Biochemistry. Their steps and the rain were the only things that could be heard until the girl broke the silence "why didn't you tell me you were going to the library?"

"Because you're not my mother." The answer hit like a bullet. Mikasa had always been protective of Eren, but sometimes she tended to cross his limits, and it became hard for him to understand her. He felt Armin's elbow poking his eft arm – he had been harsh. He sighed and in a guilty confession he wrapped his arm around the girl's shoulders bringing her closer, her shiny hair caressing his jaw. "You don't need to worry about me" his reassuring words made her smile into her red shawl.

When the group arrived at the building, they struggled to find the classroom. It was a large room, with around 30 double desks, on the second floor. Eren chose a desk near a window, Mikasa sat next to him and Armin on the desk in front. He could see a few familiar faces in the room: Sasha and Connie shared a desk behind, Marco and Jean the one beside that, and Historia and Ymir shared the one across the room. Although, Eren didn't know the majority of his classmates, like the blond girl in the back whose blue eyes focused on the random doodles she made to pass her time, or the brawny blond boy that talked, with his arms crossed, to the tall brunette one who nodded along, or the short-haired girl practically asleep on her hand.

"I'm hungry."

"Sasha," Connie exclaimed "I just saw you eating an apple." She rolled her chocolate orbs at him and proceeded scavenging her dark yellow backpack.

"Apples make me hungry." She explained nonchalantly, producing a banana from a hand-made lunch bag. She pealed the fruit and tore a piece, shoved it in her mouth and glanced over at the hazel-eyed boy with a mocking expression. She kept tearing bits and eating them whilst the others laughed and joked.

"Good morning" a deep voice spoke from the doorway. Silence filled the room, only the sound of oxford shoes touching the wooden floor in each step.

Eren immediately recognized the gravelly voice. Armin twirled in his chair to face him "Isn't that-" he was cut off by Eren's nod. The man from the coffee shop, the brunette responded in his mind as he watched the man undress his coat, neatly fold it in half and place it on the back of his chair. His hands returned to his pockets. "I'm professor Levi Ackerman," professor? Ackerman? "and I'll be teaching you Biochemistry this semester" Eren played the conversation they shared in the café in his mind. It couldn't be called a conversation, really; it was just words going back and forth – quibbling. He felt even more intimidated now, knowing he was his professor.

"Did he say 'Ackerman'?" Mikasa whispered; she fidgeted with her skirt. Did she know him? No. Why did they share a last name? She didn't know. The professor walked towards them explaining the meaning of Biochemistry making the pair fall into silence. Eren glanced up at the man, his white shirt without a wrinkle perfectly tucked into beige dress pants. Levi returned the look without tilting his head, still explaining the main types of biological molecules. He took his right hand of his pocket and reached out, palm facing up. The brown-eyed boy sat up right, avoiding the sight of the firm hand. What did he want? In a sudden epiphany he realized he was reaching out to the girl behind Eren. Sasha noticed the hand and her eyes wandered to face the professor who looked at her never stopping the lecture. She gulped regretting the almost finished banana in her hand. Connie snickered next to her making her blood rise to her cheeks. She drew out the fruit and he took it, pealing the rest and biting onto it. Her jaw fell. Jean and Connie burst out laughing. "Oi, brats," he called "settle down."

By the end of the class everyone got up to leave, except Eren. He explained when asked that he might have spoken a few unpleasant words to the professor that morning, he was going to apologize. "You offended the man?" Jean laughed "I knew you were a maniac, I just didn't know you were also suicidal", Eren clenched his teeth. He hadn't offended anyone, he'd just been a little distasteful with sharp answers and eye rolls.

After everyone had left the room, the boy took a deep breath and headed for the wooden desk, his mind going over what he was going to say. Levi was closing his laptop when Eren approached him "Professor," impassive gray eyes glanced at him "I- I need to apologize for this morning, I was quite rude to you," Levi's gruff stare made him uncomfortable "I didn't know you were- well- you-"

"It's alright, brat" the professor said bluntly "I should be the one apologizing" Eren's eyes widened and his shoulders straightened in surprise. It was the last thing he imagined coming out of Levi's mouth, "I kept teasing you." Oh? The man put on his coat, grabbed the laptop under his arm and with the free hand combed his hair back with his fingers. The younger one watched him closely, his lips parted, as the dark straight locks returned to their initial position. He felt his hands go numb and cold as his heart seemed to only pump the blood to his head. "Tch" the man sneered bringing his hand to his pocket "do you need anything else?" Eren shook his head "Let's go, I have other thing to do."

"Wait," the boy's mouth shot before his neurons could shut it. Good… now say something. "do you have any ongoing investigation I could take part in?" Levi seemed unimpressed, with a ruthless look in his narrow eyes. "As an extra help, that is." Eren was quick to explain.

The short man glanced at his watch and exhaled sharply "When do you finish your classes today?"

"5 pm"

"I'll be in my office," said Levi, "meet me there." He explained his office location as they walked out of the room. Eren's friends were waiting for him outside; Marco suggested they would get some coffee, Sasha suggested snacks, and Jean said something like "Are you done kissing the prof's ass?", but there was no response on Eren's part; he just walked in silence, not really seeing or listening to anything, with his thumbs hooked on his backpack straps.