I can't believe I'm being dragged along to this. I mean, literally, dragged. Sasha has me by my wrist, and Connie practically wrestled me into the car a few minutes ago. We're at the stadium, its huge spotlights shooting off into the darkening sky. The car park is near full. The line to get in is long and winding, and I'm half hoping they'll run out of seats.

"Hurry up." Connie whines, walking ahead of Sasha and I. "I want to get a good view, alright?"

"They have huge screens in there. If you want to see the action up close, you can just look at that." Sasha explained as her fingernails dug into my skin. She's much faster than I am and I don't know how farther I can go without tripping up.

"They also have a Kiss Cam." I hear a voice from nearby. Reiner is once again tailing us. Considering who he is, he's the least likely of us all to be a shipper, but "Springles" has been a one true pairing of his for as long as I've known him.

"Shouldn't you be in there getting ready to play?" Connie hisses. I can tell he doesn't want his crush on Sasha to be exploited tonight. As if it hasn't already, lover boy.

"I thought I'd come outside to see who was gonna come and watch us. You are cheering for the Titans, right?" He laughs a little.

Of course we are. The other team, the Garrison, are second-rate at most. Their "star" player is a guy named Hannes. He's never scored a goal in his life and there's a rumour going about that he's a drunk, too. I don't know why these guys are even bothering to show up.

"Well, I guess Connie's right. I'll catch you later." Reiner jogs off to the staff-only entrance. The lucky bugger can get in that way, yeah. He's so heavy in muscle weight I feel like his footsteps could cause an earthquake. I swear he once cracked concrete during a marathon.

We reach the back of the line. It looks like it'll take ages to get in. Connie imitates the mating call of a dying walrus. He's acting as if he dropped an iPhone 6 in the gutter.

Sasha is already eating the food she'd brought with her for the match. She promised she'd save some for us, but knowing her, I doubt it'll last to the end of the queue.

A few people line up behind us.At least we're not the last people here. In the darkness I can only make out their hair. Two short blondes and one slender, black haired woman.

"Historia! I thought you didn't like sports?" Sasha exclaims. Oh, great. It's people we know.

"I'm not a huge fan, but I thought I'd come to support her, you know?" By now, everyone knows who the mysterious "her" is when Historia is around. Ymir.

"If you can't see, I'll lift you up." The black haired woman jokes. From her voice I can tell it's Mikasa. Considering how gloomy she is a lot of the time, her jest takes me by surprise.

"Lift me up too." Connie practically busts a gut with his own sentence.

"And me." Sasha raises her hand, nearly spilling her can of Coke, which for once is diet.

They all laugh amongst themselves for a while, before the slightly taller blonde speaks.

"Who do you think'll score the most?" It's Armin, the boy who primarily follows my roommate around akin to Bertholdt with Reiner.

"You're not getting into betting, now, are you?" Sasha cackles.

"No, I just thought it'd be interesting to see what happens."

"I think Bertl will. I mean, he's the best player." Connie chimes in.

"Sure, he has a good kick, but he's slow." Mikasa contends.

Their little debate goes on for a while as the queue shortens. I stay quiet, honestly wishing I wasn't here at all. You know where I'd rather be? In bed, with my studies. Or "studies", with the little finger-quotation marks, as Sasha likes to put it.

They eventually agree Ymir will probably score the most, and now we're almost at the end of the line.

"Three tickets, please." Connie squawks at the guy in the ticket booth, almost too quick to be audible. He hands in the money before the vendor even has a chance to speak himself. The vendor stiffly handed us our tickets.

Great. We're in.

We go to sit about midway up the seating plan. We have a nice view of the pitch and the massive overhead TVs. It seems everyone we know has decided to sit in this exact row, actually.

I'm in between Sasha and Connie, the honorary third wheel. To Sasha's left are Mikasa, Armin and Historia. To Connie's right are some of the professors from the university. I guess they need to have fun, too, right? From where I am I can see Ral, Zoe and Nanaba - some kind of girls' night out. Alongside them are Zacharius and Smith. There's someone next to Professor Smith that seems to be with him, but I can't make them out. It could be Levi, though they seem way too tall. They lean over to pick something off the floor. I see the top of their head; short brown hair, with some kind of black string tied around horizontally. Their arm is tan, freckled and...

Shit.

He's in the same row as me.

This is exactly the reason why I didn't want to come.

"Sasha, I'm gonna go get some drinks." I excuse myself, standing up. She pushes me back down before I can walk away.

"Already loaded." She opens her shoulder bag to show me way too many canned drinks.

"I gotta take a... a piss." I try to stand up again, but she's holding me down.

"Connie spent good money on your ticket and Reiner's been expecting you here. The least you could do is be a good friend and stay." Damn, she's good. I let a frustrated grunt escape my throat and give in. As long as he doesn't see me.

It's just now that the famous Kiss Cam flickers on. A huge screen that can make incest happen if it chooses.. It has some kind of otherworldly power over us earthlings. It switches between various couples, succeeding in making them snog every time.

It's all fun and games until it lands on you.

I'm starting to wish I hadn't sat between Connie and Sasha. Not only would I not have to kiss anyone, but also Reiner's shipper dreams would've come true.

I'm hoping my startled, somewhat disgruntled face will chase the camera director off as I see it on the big screen, but it just makes the crowds even more excited. God, is my hair really that ridiculous?

Sasha's going off the deep end. She's looking left and right, up and down, as if she's trying to make sure the camera isn't focussed on me and her. But it is, and we're imprisoned in its hellish pixels until out lips meet.

Her gaze meets mine. We're both as terrified as eachother. Out of the corner of my eye I can see Connie scowling. What, did he want to be in my position? He seriously needs to sort out his priorities.

I stare at her pale, dry lips. Underneath them are her fangs. That's what I'm afraid of. I don't want her getting a taste for my blood. That would definitely ruin the evening I'm already not enjoying.

I peer round to see how many people are watching us rather than the big screen. Everyone except Connie. Marco's gawking from behind Erwin, There's a small look of concern in his eyes, actually. I'm not sure why, but I'd feel much more comfortable with the situation if he wasn't here right now. His mere presence makes me tense.

"Come on, Jean. Can we just get it over with?" Sasha murmurs, her attention periodically being won over by the screen. This is when I have to thank Connie for saving my life.

After sitting there, looking away, glowering, he finally builds up his angered courage. He leans over me and practically faceplants his lover. There's wild cheering from the crowd, and then the camera moves on to another unfortunate couple.

After a little while, the match starts.

In case you were wondering, this isn't regular soccer. The rules are modified to incorporate the powers of shapeshifters, which explains why all the players are conveniently of that species.

I actually find myself enjoying the experience, especially after Armin's prediction is true and Ymir scores three goals in a row. Mikasa eventually does lift Historia up, who's holding a "Go Girlfriend!" sign. Everything she does is so... cutesy.

It gets pretty exciting, and when half time comes I realise how much I miss going out with friends. Everyone's laughing. The professors are drunk, and that's hilarious to me.

Most of my acquaintances get up in unison to go to the toilet. Only Historia, Professors Ral and Nanaba, and Marco are left.

Maybe if I stay still and face forward, he won't notice me.

But it's too late, isn't it?

He saw me in the Kiss Cam.

I keep trying to ignore him, though my eyes keep wandering back to him.

He's standing up.

He walks past the drunken Petra and Nanaba and over to me.

Why does he want to speak to me?

I'm praying he'll walk past, that he's just heading to the bathrooms like everyone else. But, no. He stops where Connie had been sitting, but he stays standing.

"Just wondering... Eren said I've been causing some problems recently."

He says it so innocently. Too innocently, even for a freckled saint like him. Is he sassing me? Is he really doing this now? This is fucking immature.

"You're gonna blame me for something I didn't do?" I retaliate, as obnoxiously as I mean it.

"Every time I'm mentioned, according to Eren you go off in some strop. I was just wondering why."

"You can fucking expect why, can't you?" I sound aggressive. Right now, I am aggressive. I bet he has some kind of agenda here. I don't need this shit. I should've stayed at home.

"You know, you're the one who's been ignoring me, not vice versa. I know that... things happened, but-"

"I have every right to avoid you at the moment, Marco."

"I didn't do anything." He defends himself. At this point I could just apologise for snapping and go along with my day. But actually, he's pissed me off now. Really. He should know perfectly well why I don't speak to him.

He folds his arms. "I know you feel like a victim, but right now you've been hurting me by ignoring me. Can't we just pretend it didn't happen or something?"

Why is he confronting me now, of all places? And seriously? I haven't been ignoring him. He's like some walking trigger bomb to me. I can't look at him without thinking of what it did.

"You know damn well why we can't do that!" I shout. I'm a little more jumpy than usual. My eyesight is hazy. It's now that I come to terms with something new; I'm drunk.

I could calm myself down, maybe go for a piss and leave him be. But no, I'm angry. I'm not the best person to make angry. I'm angsty. I have problems. My whole subspecies is associated with anger issues, and to top that off, I'm intoxicated.

I lean over, resting my elbows on my knees.

"Just... just fuck off, right now."

"Jean..."

"Go." I growl. Great, another reason why I avoid the public. Emotions don't always play well with me, especially with these situations. My supposedly intimidating, inhuman voice doesn't chase him off either.

Why is this guy so brave, or whatever this is?

He stands there, watching me. I don't think I'm gonna transform, but there's no doubt about it. He's reached a danger zone with me.

I'm only lucky when my two 'best friends' arrive back.

"Gosh, Jean, you look all hot and sweaty. Your breathing's all over the place, too..." Sasha exclaims when she sees me. She notices Marco just after, and then she ignores me.

I'm too caught up in my own feelings to notice he has feelings too.

Sasha goes to hug him.

He's not crying, he's too strong for that. But with Marco, you can just tell when something's hit a nerve. Connie goes to sit by him too.

I use this as my excuse to leave the wretched stadium. Once again, nobody realises how everything affected me. I'm the selfish bastard who can't help but think at this point, 'It's all about Marco fucking Bodt, isn't it?'

Because nobody, nobody, cares that I was a victim too.