…Pink Camellia...

/Warning/: This chapter contains, cursing, humor, a little bit of sadness, times skips, a little bit of fluff? And who knows what! All reviews are appreciated.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

….Dreams or flashbacks….

Chapter 8

Eren's first year of MIT was a strange one, to say the least…

After lots of hugs and crying and goodbyes that Eren received before he traveled to America, from Levi specifically as the boy had refused to let go of Eren for a good fifteen minutes making the teen promise to call every week or so, the two of them had spent the day before Eren left together, both of them making promises they hoped the two of them will be able to answer in the future. That didn't stop them from spending the night together taking in the closeness and intimacy, nor did it stop them from hugging each other tightly when he was about to leave.

Eren remembered hugging Han and Jenny, telling them that he was going to miss them and that he will try to call them every other week or so and that he will take a lot of pictures to send toward them, the two of them told him how proud the two of them were. Hanji, the insane girl refused to let him go, hugging him to death and crying in such an ugly way on his shoulder, Eren had to give his jacket to Hanji as the girl had snot and tears all over it, he tried to ignore Hanji as she held into his jacket as she wailed on it, Mike the poor bastard was trying to calm his fiancé but she was having none of that. Kuchel had hugged him tightly, telling him to call her as much as he can, telling him how happy she was for him, and that she was proud, it made Eren felt warm on the inside as her words made him imagine his mother. Kenny on the other hand just ruffled his hair and gave him his harmonica giving him an awkward smile; Eren had understood his meaning and smiled at the older man nodding his head. Mikasa and Armin had spent the time sniffing and trying to stop them from crying, Eren had promised them to call them as much as he can, that only got a sob from the two as they hugged Eren tightly telling him that they love him.

Eren had waved goodbyes to his friends and family, as he boarded the plane, he was told that Uncle Johann was going to pick him up from the airport as him and his fiancé-now-husband were in living in America for business or whatever the hell the two of them are up too. Those two were still in their honeymoon phase going around the world like the two of them had planned when they were brats as his mother said.

His meeting with uncle Johann and his husband was good, the two of them had hugged Eren so tightly when he arrived at the airport, meeting them after all this time was pleasant and a happy surprise, the two of them talked about what is happening in their lives, their plans and projects, and them going to Japan in three months from now. It was fun being with the two of them as the two men always loved sharing stories, they also asked him about how Levi was doing, and sharing a knowing look and a smirk when Eren told him that he was fine.

Eren decided to rent an apartment near MIT, being surprised when he discovered that he will share with four other students, at first he was a little annoyed by that but as time went by Eren had warmed up to his roommates, and the five of them did end up being close friends, the four of them did ends up taking place for them in Eren's heart, it did help that they also were from Eldia empire, just from different places, nearly all of them were from Rose city, but one of them was from Sina like him.

Frieda Reiss, she was the first one of his roommates he met, the female was a firecracker who was going to take the world by storm, she was from Sina too, and loved going on about how she and Eren were soul mates as the two of them had so many things in common, the two of them are studying business together, both of them trying to one-up each other as best as they can, which always made their roommates go about how the two of them should get a room or marry, which only caused the two of them to snort and laugh, the two of them were gay.

Isabel Magnolia, another firecracker Eren met, and one of his male roommate's fiancée, the girl was insane to say the least, always doing dangerous things because she got bored, she was studying computer science, the girl always goes about how she wanted to be a hacker and how she was going to invent such strong programs that no one can hack, it made her fiancé beg her to lower her voice or she will get caught, which always made the five of them laughed until they lost their breath.

Farlan Church, Isabel's fiancé and one of the most charismatic people Eren met, if he wanted to see someone talk themselves out of murder then he will go and see Farlan in action, which was fitting considering that the man was studying law wanting to be a lawyer, everyone joked about Farlan being so persuasive that he could sell sand in the desert, though the only person that Farlan can't one-up seemed to be Eren, which made the teen a little bit pouty, though he got over it quickly.

And lastly Moblit Berner, he was one of the most calming people Eren ever saw, the man practically radiating calmness and wisdom, the old teen wanted to be a scientist and a doctor, and he thought that MIT was the way for him to go, considering that the teen was the oldest one of the group, the man took it upon himself to act as their voice of reason, his calm personality was even able to calm Isabel which by itself was a fate.

The group spent their time studying, having fun, and causing troubles, everyone of them was the best in their field; Farlan bested everyone in his classes, considering that he was a smart and smooth talker that was expected. Isabel spent her time growling because she came the second in her classes because of some big shot called Anthony who she was sure as hell was dating the hot beefcake from the art major, she usually said it was the reason she didn't scream her head off, mainly because the boy was shy and cute when he fluster at the presence of his boyfriend. Moblit was… not secretive but was calm, they later learn that he was the best, but the man was killing himself with his double majors and minor, the group always worry about him and made sure to take care of him because the older man forgets to take care of himself half of the time. As predicted by his family, Eren was the first student in the business field, followed closely by Frieda who spent her time pouting at him and hissing like a wet kitten, though she let it go in the end when she heard Eren's phone ring, she always coos when she knew that Levi was calling, as all of his friends did, mainly because they all think that Levi was his boyfriend, even when the young man said he was nothing but a friend, like now.

Eren raised his head when he heard his phone ringing making him stand up, but not before Frieda who ran toward his phone which caused Eren to chase after her. "Hello, this is Frieda's escort serves, press one for heterosexual serves, press two for homosexual serves, press three for a heterosexual couple, press four for a homosexual couple-" Frieda squeal as the phone was snatched from her hands and she fell down laughing. "Oh, come on! He presses a button; tell me what number he pressed?" Frieda giggled which made their friends shook their heads and held their laughter at Eren's hiss.

"Please ignore this maniac, Levi." Eren said as he walked to his room closing the door behind him, smiling when he heard Levi's laugh. "By the way what button did you press?" Eren leer which made Levi hum, causing the younger teen to smile and sit on his bed, looking around the room waiting for Levi's answer.

"Why do you wanna know? I will keep it a secret, just like I will keep that you work as… an escort."

Levi said jokingly which made Eren laugh at that and lean on the bed looking and the ceiling. "Hi…" Eren said gently which made Levi chuckle a little and repeat the word to him softly, he missed hearing Levi's voice, as the older teen didn't call as much as the two used to consider that university was taking a lot of their time now.

The spent the night talking…

In his second year at MIT, Eren realized something that changed his life one-eighty…

The first year went, and the second came in a blink of an eye, Eren and his friends became a tight-knit group, Eren was happy to have amazing friends like them. As always you will always find the four of them up to mischief if they had the time for it, but most of the time they didn't consider that they usually spent their time studying their asses off, in their second year everything was different and in the same time not, everyone tried to do their best and go on with their lives.

Eren was used to his uncle and his husband dropping on him whenever the two of them were in America, as the two of them will take him to some restaurant and try to feed Eren to death, saying something about skinny college students, Eren always had fun when the two of them come around, as they will usually take him to strange places to explore and have fun, they will usually bug him about his college life, about how he was doing, and most importantly about Levi, though Eren never knew why the two of them smile strangely at each other every time he started talking about the teen.

Eren always smiles when he gets calls from his uncle, aunt, Hanji, and the Ackermans too. Hanji usually calls when she wasn't swarmed with papers as the woman usually complain about the papers were out to get her, though she spent half of her time telling him about how amazing Trost University was, and how amazing their labs were, it made Eren hum and ask her about his friends smiling happily as she told him what took place while he was away, she told him about Erwin finally graduating from college, though in the past two years the older man always seemed to follow Levi, asking him out on dates or whatever his deal was, that made Eren pause a little considering that Levi never told him about Erwin bugging him like that, though he did laugh when Hanji told him that Erwin once got Levi so mad that he throws orange paint on the older man. He smiled happily as he heard that Oruo and Petra were now engaged, the two of them got engaged two weeks ago on their second anniversary, Eren smiled when Hanji sent him the picture of the two of them smiling happily. Erd and Gunther still together it seems, the two of them were planning on starting their business soon, Hanji joked about if Eren wanted to manage it with them because the two of them were a disaster. Mike was still in love with Hanji as he was years ago, the older man graduated was now working as teacher assistant in the same university, Hanji told him about the two of them eloping past summer and marrying, that made Eren growl and threat Hanji that if she didn't do a normal ceremony like the rest of the people he will disown her, which get the woman to laugh harder than before. Eren, though had to smile when he was told by Hanji about Mikasa, Armin, and their group of friends graduating from high school and starting college, it made Eren proud and happy to hear that. Eren made sure to send his friends and family a lot of pictures of him and his friends in America, which made everyone happy as Hanji told him, though it ends with him not sending any pictures in the years that came.

The realization came to Eren when he and his friends were celebrating New Year, the five of them were chatting happily when Eren got a message, Eren when open the message, he smiled as he saw Levi's picture as he pointed at one of the new drawings he made with a proud smile on his face, the drawing was that of a man's back with slightly long brown hair wearing green coat with a drawing on a wings on its back as he was looking at the see in front of him, the caption 'It's finally here' made Eren's lips twitch up in a smile which got coos from his friends.

"What did your boyfriend send you this time Eren?" Moblit asked with a smile which got a lot of giggles as the man usually wasn't for joining such childish games.

Hearing that made Eren sniffs and turns the phone off glaring lightly at the man who was smiling at Eren with an innocent look. "How many times do I have to tell you we are just friends nothing more?" Eren said as he put his phone away, which made his friends look at each other with smiles and headshakes.

"Of course Eren, I always smile at Isabel like that because we are just friends." Farlan said hugging Isabel which made the woman laugh at that and lean on him. "Aren't we such good friends, darling?" Farlan cooed to Isabel kissing her, which made Eren scrunch his nose at that and turn to Frieda who was smiling happily at the couple.

"You know, I will be quite lucky if I found a friend like your Levi…" Frieda said winking at Eren and returned to her talk with Moblit who start counting from ten as the ball was getting ready to drop. Eren paused at what his friends said mind going into overdrive as he tried to understand what they told him when the clock hit 12:00 the realization made Eren's jaw drop…

He was in love with his best friend…

His third year… he got his heart broken…

Now Eren know that the realization of him being in love with his best friend should scare him, after all, he promised himself to never fall in love after what happened to his mother, but the thing is, he looked at Levi as a friend until he realized he loved him, loving Levi was a fresh breath of air, it was freeing, and Eren realized that he was happy, seeing that the person he loved was Levi, his friend, best friend, and Eren hoped that when he is back the two of them can be more.

Eren's third year was spent with him getting slaps on the back from his friends for finally realizing that he was in love with his best friend, Eren spent the time looking at his phone eagerly every time it rang, hoping that every call, text, and picture was from Levi, realizing that he was in love with his best friend seemed to open a new door of possibilities for Eren, and the teen was happy for that.

Though that year did end up bringing confusion to Eren as the teen tried to understand what was the meaning of that strange phone call Levi made, no matter what Eren did, from calling Levi to Hanji, he didn't get the answers he wants.

It all started at night… actually it was like three am and Eren was sleeping, but the sound of his phone going off none stop made Eren groan as he woke up tiredly, looking at the caller with bleary eyes, Eren raised his brows as he saw that it was Levi, which was strange as the teen usually always call him in reasonable times, Eren just sighed at that and sit on the bed grumbling as the phone started ringing again, which made Eren blink and took the phone accepting the call. "Hello, Levi." Eren said yawning a little as he lay down on the bed looking at the ceiling.

"Eren…"

Levi's voice was choked up which made Eren sit on the bed in concern, the drowsiness he felt had long since gone after hearing Levi's voice, the only time he heard Levi use that tone was when he was out-ed against his will, since that day Eren promised himself to never hear that tone again, that he will protect Levi. "Are you OK? Is something wrong?" Eren fires questions left and right waiting for the older teen to answer.

"I… I just wanna hear your v-voice…"

Levi answered which made Eren furrow his brows at Levi who was trying to stop his wobbly voice. "Levi, what's going on?" Eren asked in a gentle voice which made the teen hum on the other side of the line.

"Hey, Eren, do you remember the day you told me that you will always be by my side…"

Eren pressed his lips into a thin line thinking of different cases of why Levi was talking like this, did something happen? Eren looked at the clock and swallow as it read 3:13 am, he wonders how long it will take him to book a flight and fly all the way to Eldia. "Levi…?" Eren said in a calming voice which only made Levi laugh a little and swallow.

"I know this is going to sound crazy and … I just wanted to tell you that I… I love you... goodbye."

With that Levi clicked his phone shut, no matter how many times Eren called the teen after that he never answered him, nor the Ackermans or his family for that matters, after two days of this Eren was about to scream his head off and book a flight to Eldia that morning, but fortunately, Levi called him that night, no matter how many times Eren asked the teen about what happened, the older teen just laugh it off saying he was drunk when he called him and tried to change the subject… though the phone calls become fewer and fewer as time pass, instead of every three times or sometimes once a week, Eren will get a text or a sort phone call once every two weeks sometimes a month, it made him concern, and a little bit heartbroken, but no matter how many times he asked his family or Kuchel about it, they just tried to change the subject, he know they were hidden something, and it broke his heart…

He wished Levi trusted him enough to tell him… it hurt…

On his last year, Eren thought enough was enough….

Eren last year of college, Eren made sure to work hard to graduate faster, and it worked, Eren graduate three months before his peers, and now he was getting ready to return home, enough was enough, and Eren was tired of feeling down because Levi seemed to forget him all of sudden, the last time the man talked to him was three months ago, it made Eren wonder what he did wrong to make Levi hate him like this, so Eren made sure to go and ask Levi about that, and he knows that doing it personally was the only way for it to work, the both of them were adults now, Levi being twenty-two and Eren being twenty, he knows that the two of them were going to solve whatever the hell the two of them were in.

So Eren made sure to graduate before everyone, made sure to hug his friends tightly before leaving for Eldia, promising to call them every time he can and that when they graduate they should defiantly come and visit him in Sina. Eren didn't tell anyone from home that he was coming back, wanting to make it a surprise, and mainly to see the look on their faces when they see how much he changed since last time.

Since his last growth sport, Eren changed, 'Hot like Wow' in Frieda's words as the woman always told him that if she was straight she will so bang him like no tomorrow. He always shudders in displease at that which made her laugh. Eren was tall, taller now than he had been when he was sixteen; he now stood at six feet four inches, with muscled body from always going to gym and doing sport and martial arts, his face has matured too, and instead of the short hair he once kept, his hair was longer now, reaching his shoulders, that's why he always keep it in a messy bun. Today he was wearing black tight jeans, a black tight shirt, and a brown leather jacket, which made a lot of people stop and stare at him as he walked.

Eren sighed at finally being home, all Eren wanted to do was go home and sleep, the plane ride was hell, as Eren was sited near a woman who kept drooling at him, telling him how hot he was and kept asking him on a date, and to top it all when Eren told her that he was gay, she starts talking about how he was probably wrong and that a night with her will change his mind, Eren called the flight attendant after that. When Eren finally reached home, he discovered that the house was empty, which meant that his family was at the Ackermans' household which made Eren pause to think about it then he shrugged and put his stuff in his room smiling when he saw that nothing changed.

Eren took his wallet, keys, and phone before he was out of the house, walking around the town and smiling at everything he saw, he saw the new places that opened, and the ones that closed, smiling as the memories came to him every time he passed over an old places he and his friends went to, when he reached the Ackermans' home he grin and took his phone intended to do the surprise now, he called Hanji and waited until she picks the phone. "Hi Hanji, I have a quick question for you, are you at the Ackermans', in the backyard?" Eren asked before the eccentric woman could say anything which made the woman paused at the end of the call.

"Yes… why are you asking that?"

Hanji asked in a confused voice which made Eren hide his laughter and clear his throat. "Nothing just curious, bye…" Eren asked as he clicked the phone shut, grinning as he walked around the gardens until he reached the backyard hearing Hanji's loud complaint about how Eren closed the phone in her face and how she was so mad at him. "Oh, so will you forgive me if I said I am sorry." Eren called out as he reached them which made every face turn to him.

"Eren?" Hanji asked then screamed in delight as Eren grin at her his signature grin. Eren then was pulled in a hug by Hanji followed Han, Jenny and the rest as everyone take the turn hugging him, Eren tried not to lose the smile as he noticed that Levi wasn't there.

"Oh, my, look at how you have grown, Eren!" Kuchel said as she let go of Eren, smiling happily as she looked at Eren who was smiling at her. Everyone was looking at Eren who looked so changed since they last saw him four years ago.

"You grow up good, brat." Kenny said as he nods his head making Eren throw a smirk at the man, Eren then was dragged to sit down on one of the chairs in the garden smiling a little as he saw his family after all these years.

"Aren't you supposed to be in college right now Eren? Spring break was over." Mike said as he looked at the younger man with a happy smile, he can finally rest from Hanji talking his head off about when Eren was going to return.

"Graduate earlier, and decided to come as fast as I can." Eren said with a smirk which made everyone shake their head at that. "By the way where are Levi and Mikasa?" Eren asked which made everyone go silent at that which made Eren's smile vanished as he looked at the adult.

"Mikasa… she is at her therapy appointment right now." Kuchel said which made Eren still at that looking at the older woman. "Oh, don't worry, nothing bad, she will be back soon, she will be extremely happy to see you again." Kuchel waved off with a smile but Eren looked at the woman with a frown waiting for her to finish her sentence frowning when she didn't.

"And Levi?" Eren asked which made everyone go quiet at that which made Eren nearly growl at that when no one answered him.

"Eren… he is with his fiancé right now." Mike said when he sensed that no one was going to answer the man, fidgeting a little when Eren throws him a disbelieving look.

Eren paused at that looking at his hands biting the inside of his cheek as he felt the ground pull from under him if that was even possible. "Who is his fiancé? He never told me when he called…" Eren said through a tight smile faking that cheerful tone, which made everyone look at each other with confusion

"Erwin Smith… you know the blond you used to go to school with." Jenny said smiling a little as she saw the smile on Eren's face, not realizing that the older teen was shaking so hard on the inside, in the past few years Eren created the perfect poker face, he prided himself on being able to fool anyone he wants using that face.

"Oh, Erwin? That's great, when is the wedding, or is it a gunshot wedding like Hanji's?" Eren joked which made everyone around him lose their tension and smile, talking about the wedding that's going to take a place in three months, Eren tried to ignore the knowing and suspicious looks Kenny was throwing his way, trying to act like his heart wasn't ripped out of his chest and crushed in front of his eyes… he felt like crying, he wonders deep down if this is what his mother felt like when Grisha left her. Home… he promised himself, he will cry when he returned home, away from everyone's eyes, he will cry his heart out when he reached home…

Eren wished he will break up from this nightmare

Sorry for the late update…

From now on, the story will be nothing but angst! Or is it?

I am so evil!

Read and Review.

And tell me what you think…

Nazaki-Sama