Eren's POV

"Mikasa! Armin! Hey!" Eren saw his friends heads whip round. "Eren! What are you doing here? You know you can't be seen here!" His sisters face changed from shock to worry. Eren internally rolled his eyes "Well hello to you too!" He said, his voice laced with sarcasm. He felt a bit put out because after an hour long bus ride to come and see his friends, he would have appreciated a warmer welcome. Armin nudged Mikasa and smiled pointedly at a very pissed off looked Eren. "Hi Eren! It's so nice to see you here... but please don't mind me asking, why are you here?" Eren didn't mind his blond friends curiosity, Eren wasn't meant to be on college property after all.

Eren shrugged off the feeling of annoyance and showed a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "I'm here to take you guys to lunch as a thank you." Eren was once again met with confused looks from his friends. "A thank you for what Eren?" Mikasa asked slowly. She sounded suspicious, but Eren couldn't blame her, he only said 'thank you' whenever he wanted something or had done something wrong. "For paying my share of the rent, for groceries and for being the adults in this friendship." Eren was really grateful for all his friends do for him. They were the parents he never really got. He freely admitted that he had been stupid with his last paycheck and Mikasa and Armin had to step in and help him out... again. Ever since they'd started living together, Mikasa and Armin matured almost instantly but Eren on the other hand... well he'd just stayed being Eren, much to the frustration of his friends.

"How can you afford to buy us lunch Eren?" Mikasa questioned, she was always cautious when it came to Eren and money, especially after last time... Eren visibly shuddered but his smile never left his face, although it didn't have the vibrancy it usually does. "Work gave me a bonus for doing some little jobs on the side and overtime... y'know the usual sorta stuff." Eren had his fingers crossed behind his back and was praying that his friends didn't see straight through his lie. Well... it wasn't exactly a lie but it wasn't the whole truth either.

Armin's ocean blue eyes swam with worry. He opened his mouth to say something but quickly shut it again. Eren fought the urge to roll his eyes and bit back a sarcastic comment that his blonde friend certainly didn't deserve. "But before you ask, I've paid you both back all the money I owe and I've set aside some money for the next three months for rent." Eren was very proud of himself for thinking so... maturely, the thought of him being a mature functioning adult almost made him shudder again. He could see Armin's mind quickly adding everything up that Eren had just listed. "Eren... that means you got paid over £250 as a bonus! Why did they give you that much money?". Eren looked between Armin's concerned face and Mikasa's suspicious expression and he started to get angry. His fingers twitched, wanting to curl into fists. Why couldn't they just be happy? This was the most responsible thing he had done for a while and they just had to question it all. He felt his rage melt away to guilt. How could he be angry when he was straight up lying to his best friends faces? "It doesn't matter." He said through gritted teeth, finally answering Armin's question. He instantly regretted his abrupt reply because he knew it would just lead to more questions. He spun on his heel and called over his shoulder "C'mon do you want free food or not?" He didn't bother to listen if his friends were even following him.

They were sat in a booth in 'Josie's Diner' and were just waiting for their order. They regularly visited this place whenever Mikasa and Armin had a free either before or after lunch. Eren was getting sick of his friends shared worried glances so he quickly said "I found out his name today." Armin gasped in excitement and some of the suspicion fell out of Mikasa's face and was replaced with an emotion that Eren had never seen on his sister's face. He just couldn't pin point what it was exactly. "Oh my gosh Eren! Tell us everything! When? How? What is his name?" Armin was now leaning across the table and was grasping Eren's arm in a surprisingly strong grip. "ow dude, calm down!" Eren laughed as he pulled his arm away. He looked round at the mostly empty tables round them before answering his blonde friends questions. "When I came to wait for you; I sat next to him on a bench outside the library and I er..." Eren let out a nervous laugh as he remembered what he had done to finally grab the older students attention. "I threw skittles at him after trying to make conversation." He rushed out the last sentence and covered his flushed face with his hands. He couldn't actually believe he had thrown skittles at Levi. Skittles! He heard a quiet chuckle of laughter and looked up to see his sister hiding her face in the scarf he had given her when they'd first met. It meant a great deal to Eren that she never took it off. He felt a smile break out on his face as the tension between the three friends broke as they all dissolved in a fit of laughter. A breathless Armin finally managed to get out "You threw skittles at the person you're basically in love with to find out his name!" He shook his head in disbelief. "You never fail to surprise me bro." Mikasa mumbled, fondly ruffling Eren's hair. He tutted in annoyance and immediately reached up to fix it back into its organised mess.

The three friends had finished off their meals in a comfortable silence, the previous tension seemingly forgotten about. It was only as they were waiting at the bus stop with Eren that Mikasa decided to speak up again. "Please be careful with him Eren." The man in question swung round to face his sister. Confusion clearly written all over his face. "What are you on about Mikasa?" She looked uncomfortable and glanced towards Armin for support but he looked just as lost as Eren. "I've heard stories... about Levi. None of them are that good to be honest and I just don't want you to end up hurt." Eren took a step back as he studied his sister. "I've only just found out his name today Mikasa! We're not planning on eloping anytime soon! And if you've heard so many 'stories' about him, why haven't you mentioned anything before?" He said sounding taken aback and quite offended at what his sister was suggesting. Mikasa looked quite upset and Eren rarely saw her like that but he just didn't care at that moment. "I just... please watch yourself Eren, that's all I ask." He rolled his eyes and turned away from her, he could feel his hands shaking and tried to remember what his therapist said to do when he felt uncontrollably angry. He bit his lip to hold back any comments his brain was yelling at him to make and he thanked whatever God was looking over him today because his bus soon swung into view and he didn't need to take part in anymore rage inducing conversation with his sister. He turned back to Armin and saw un-shed tears in his eyes, making the blue swim. Eren felt his anger soften, he hated to see his friends cry, especially someone as kindhearted as Armin. "Will you be at home when we get there?" His voice wobbled as he tentatively asked Eren his question. The taller friend shrugged "I don't know, Eld said he'd try and finish my sleeve today and I don't know how long that'll take but I'll text you when I'm coming home, ok?" Armin nodded and bit his lip and Eren took that as his sign to leave so he turned on his heel without a second glance towards his sister and plonked himself down on the closest seat free after giving the driver his ticket.

Not long after his friends had faded out of view, he thought about what Mikasa had 'warned' him about. Eren outwardly scoffed at such a stupid thought. 'What was there to warn about? He didn't even know the guys last name for gods sake!'. After a while of arguing with himself, Eren huffed unhappily and slumped down in his seat, willing the bus journey to pass by quickly.

Eren was in an absolutely foul mood when he stepped into the tattoo parlour where he worked... well where he had an apprenticeship to be more specific. He enjoyed working here and was more than happy to do over time. Drawing had always been the one and only thing he was able to concentrate on for a long time. He hadn't done well at school and was kicked out of college with barely six months of going there under his belt. So when his therapist, Dr Pixis, had suggested an apprenticeship in his friends tattoo parlour, Eren focused on achieving this more than he had anything before. There were two other apprentices alongside Eren. There was Ymir who was a couple of years older than Eren, she was a serious girl but was very dedicated to the things she cared about. The other one was Connie, who was Ymir's literal polar opposite, he was rarely seen without a smile on his face and even when he was being serious, there was an underlying hint of a joke. Eren got along very well with both of them, and he considered them close friends.

Eld greeted him as he stormed through the work room door. Eld was a laid back boss yet he didn't take crap from anybody. (He also gave his employees free tattoos when he had the time which made Eren's opinion of him a bit biased.) "You good Jeagar?" Eld looked up towards where his youngest apprentice was pouring himself a coffee, practically radiating anger. "Peachy." Eren muttered drily. Eld knew all about the kids past (thanks to Pixis) but didn't hold it against him because Eren was the best damn artist he had on his team and he had never seen the kid do anything that lived up to the actions in his past. Eld was all about forgive and forget if the person deserved it and boy did Eren deserve to be cut some slack sometimes. "Shall we get on with your sleeve then?" Eren grunted in response and yanked his shirt off, leaving himself in his t-shirt, before throwing it in a corner and storming out to his usual chair. Eld sighed and picked the kids shirt before hanging it neatly on the back of the chair he was just sitting on before following him out.

After about fifteen minutes of working in silence - even with prompts of conversation from Eld- Eren finally spoke up. "Where are the others?" Eren had only just noticed that the rest of the shop was silent and empty - save for Fall Out Boy blasting from the speakers (on of Eren's favourites) and the buzz of the needle - Eld shifted uncomfortably and dabbed at the fresh ink on Eren's forearm. His arm was feeling slightly numb by now but he was never one to complain about tattoos, they never really hurt him as much as it did others. "Er... well your blonde friend Arnie?" Eld wasn't that familiar with Eren's friends "Armin." Eren corrected, staring down at the needle driving into his skin. "Right, Armin, well he called the shop about an hour before you turned up and said you were mad and to keep and eye on you basically, so I sent the others home and closed up shop; we didn't have any appointments booked in until four so we weren't gonna miss out on anyone." Eld muttered, still focusing on the tattoo in Erens' arm. Eren felt a small smile take place on his face. Of course Armin was going to think about that, he was always the practical friend and probably hated Eren storming off when he was mad. "Thanks Eld, that's really nice." The older man, never one for many words, shrugged in reply. "You're working a full day tomorrow though and you're taking over for me tonight." Eld quickly got in, sensing that Eren's mood had calmed rapidly. Eren chuckled at that. "That's cool with me."

After and hour and a half, his arm was finally finished. It had taken months of Eren and Eld's free time and artistic skills, but Eren was absolutely in love with it. "Holy shit Eld!" he exclaimed while admiring it in the mirror. "You're a bloody genius!" Eld smiled at the compliment and continued to tidy up his work station. Eren admired the swirls of the stars and the nebula that twisted down his arm as he expertly wrapped it up. He'd always had a deep fascination of space and this tattoo was so meaningful to him. The moon on his shoulder reminded him of the times he and his mum would sit in the back garden making up stories about the man on the moon and how the stars got in the sky. He was interrupted by Eld clearing his throat. Eren looked up to see the elder standing there with his coat in his hands. "I'm off now but you've only got one appointment, a new girl, you might be able to start on her tattoo by today but y'know what some people are like with the designs." Eren nodded a thanks and said goodbye and he followed Eld to the door and flipped the sign over to 'welcome' hoping that whoever it was, took forever to decided because he really did not fancy going home.