Eren shifted in his seat. Christa had needed to borrow his notes after work, and came over to his house to study. His parents knew about the fact that she was dating Ymir. They scowled every time they saw her. Christa ignored it. Eren decided that she was a saint for not leaving immediately with his notes and maybe a bit of blood on her hands.

Eren was embarrassed. Christa kept eyeing him during their studying. Is this why you haven't come out to them yet? He could practically hear her thinking it. Then, she got up.

"I've got to get home. Ymir is waiting for me." she said, checking her phone. A small smile spread across her face, and Eren was happy for her. For years Christa was alone, with no one to talk to but her abusive father and her few friends, Eren included. Then, she had met Ymir. And fallen in love with her. Now, they were living together. Christa was safe from her father, who she never turned in and begged us to never turn in. Christa was happy for the first time in years.

As Eren and Christa walked to the front door, his parents got up to see her off, like the polite people they were. Christa shot Eren a we'll-talk-about-this-later look and walked off, waving and smiling as if she were at work. Forced.

"Good riddance." muttered Grisha. Eren clenched his fists tightly and grit his teeth; He knew Christa was still within hearing distance. Christa paused on the sidewalk, glancing back toward them with a look of disgust on her face before leaving.

The next day, Eren got a text from her asking to meet her at the mall after school. He replied with a simple yes and shoved his phone in his pocket. He was dreading it.

On the way to school, he ran into Mikasa and Armin.

"Eren!" Mikasa said, smiling. "I'm sorry I didn't talk to you yesterday. I was very busy." she looked like she deeply regretted it.

"It's fine." Eren smiled easily. He turned to Armin. "How is it going with Jean?"

Armin's blue eyes saddened slightly. "He's still not speaking to me."

Eren nodded knowingly and patted him on the head. "He's still watching you, though."

"That's not reassuring, it's creepy." Armin said, shivering slightly. Whether it was from the cold weather or the thought of Jean stalking him, Eren couldn't tell. He suspected it was the latter.

Armin and Jean had been off and on for quite a while now. While they were off, Jean would try to seduce Mikasa, who always declined. What kind of friend would she be if she accepted his offer? She shuttered at he thought, her eyes roaming to Eren. She frowned. For a while, she had thought that her feelings for Eren were purely sisterly, but now...

The day passed by all to quickly for Eren. He was dreading the talk he would have o have with Christa. "Are you OK?", "Do you need a place to stay?".

Once, Eren had tried to tell his parents he was gay.

"Hey, what would you guys do if I was gay?" he had asked quietly, heat flaring up in his face. He immediately regretted asking.

"Why on earth would you ask such a thing?" asked Carla sharply. "I don't even want to think about how terrible that would be. We don't want you going to hell."

Eren felt tears spring to his eyes and quickly blinked them away. No way was he going to cry. Then they would know that i was real. He was scared.

"It was just hypothetical." he had said quietly.

Now, he was standing in the mall, waiting for Christa to show up. No, agonizing about how Christa was going to show up. He started pacing the mall, and decided to buy himself a soft pretzel to calm himself down.

As Eren chewed his delicious pretzel, he noticed something. A brunette in glasses was barreling toward him at an alarming rate. He recognized her from the cosplay cafe. He opened his mouth and-

She grabbed his shoulders, grinning like a madman.

"You're the hot one from the cosplay cafe!" she practically screeched, an excited blush spreading across her face. Then, she was pried off of Eren. He stood there in shock.

"Get off the poor brat." said a man standing behind her. Eren's eyes flickered with recognition. He was the constipated one! I wonder how his stomach is doing? Mentally, Eren smacked himself. That guy wasn't actually constipated.

"You're not traumatized, are you?" he asked, looking over Eren. Eren managed to shake his head no.

"Sorry." The girl said, unconvincingly. "It's just- I got so excited! I mean, you're so gorgeous! (Not as gorgeous as my man back home, but...)"

"Thank you?" asked Eren. He tried to shake the bewildered expression form his face, taking another bite of his pretzel. A few pieces of over-sized salt fell to the floor.

"I'm Zoe!" she took his hand excitedly. Technically, he wasn't supposed to associate with guests. At least, he didn't think he was supposed to associate with guests. But what could be the harm?

"This is Levi." she said, gesturing back to the constipated man. He scowled.

"I can introduce myself, damn glasses." he said. "L-e-v-i, not R-i-v-i-a-l-l-e."

Eren could only nod dumbly. Why were these two telling him their names?

"I hope we see each other again soon, Eren!" Zoe said happily before dragging Levi away. Eren sighed in relief. He had gathered from yesterday that she was a bit off on her knocker, but this was crazy! Just like her.

He ate the last bit of his pretzel and set off to find Christa.

A/N: I wasn't planning on updating today, but I got so many favorites and follows that I couldn't not update! Like, wow. Thanks so much! Reviews would also be appreciated, if you don't mind.

I looked up a few articles on coming out to homophobic parents, and I'll do some research on cosplay cafes as well. Have a nice day!