Hi guys! Thank you to those who left faves, reviews and follows. I appreciate them a lot, you guys rock :D

Heads up, this is an Eren-centric chapter. A bit of angst here and there, yeah? I hope this won't bore you out haha! Just so you guys will know what exactly Eren's issues are. (Yeah, what's your problem man!) This is to build up the main plot, I guess.

And I might have indulged myself with too much Erwin/Erin. I'd like to apologize for that, but it is all completely platonic. I see them more as brothers, if not a bit affectionate, don't ask me why. Please don't get mad, these characters need more love because the canon story makes them so miserable :( Don't worry though, there will be Levi/Eren soon. I'm also quite excited for that. This unbeta'd too, so feel free to point out the mistakes :D As usual, thanks!

Disclaimer: When I get famous, I'll get the rights. I'm working on it.

italicized - flashbacks

regular - current story

Eren works hard everyday in his family's company, even if he really doesn't have to. He likes to think these are compliments, and plasters a practiced smile on his face whenever someone says "Yeager, you try too hard" . In an attempt to make small talk, they will ask how his mother's health is. When he says she's doing great, he wants to believe in his words too.

People are subtle but they never failed to successfully hide their disappointed faces after hearing that his mother still lives. Eren is used to people being indirect like that. At least they are trying to be delicate.

So when a certain Kitts Woerman, one of Wall Maria's board members, harshly stated out everyone's disappointment (with his annoyingly plummy voice) to just take off the damn life support because she isn't getting better brat, Eren wasn't able to stop the punch that landed on the old man's face. Kitts was knocked cold and was dragged out of the facility for medical assistance. No one dared to bring up the subject after that. Eren felt immense satisfactory and pointedly ignored Mikasa's disapproving stare throughout the whole meeting.

"You'll lead them now," He hears Mikasa after everyone else has filtered out of the room. Armin remains seated, watching the exchange with wary eyes. "I know this is hard for you too, but can you at least try?"

"Eren." Mikasa starts again. "Punching one of your board members isn't reall—"

"I want a frappe." Eren cuts out randomly, loosening up his tie and unbuttoning two buttons of his dress shirt. "The one with copious amount of whipped cream and enough sugar to give me type 2 diabetes. And peppermint sprinkles on top. And cinnamon. They have cinnamon sprinkles too, right?"

He hears Mikasa sigh that exasperated sigh of hers that's reserved for whenever he is being unreasonably stubborn. Eren knows he had won when his adoptive sister threw Armin an inquisitive look and Armin just shrugged, gathering up his things before walking out of the room, probably to ready the car or something. Armin is always so perceptive and Eren wonders why he didn't hire him as his secretary instead.

"I know what you're thinking, Eren." Mikasa retorts, "It's a no. I won't let you bully Armin into doing whatever you want."

"I hate you so much right now."

There's a glint of amusement in Mikasa's eyes when she says "No, you really don't."

Eren couldn't agree more.

They arrived at Café Roselia in the afternoon. Though born within the upper society, Eren never felt indifferent towards the general public, in fact he feels much at home when he's surrounded by average people rather than when he's with those who has the same upbringing as him. He believes in equality and perhaps, you might call him an idealist for believing so.

Well of course, he didn't always think like this. He wasn't constantly optimistic. Eren had his moments when he thought everyone else were stupid too. He's had hobbies that bought her mom to tears and had friends from dark places a normal teenager shouldn't even know about.

He was sixteen and it had been pure coincidence, perhaps, that on the day his car broke down (he stole the keys), Eren discovered the café-slash-music store. There was a huge window displaying its homely interiors and the seats looked very soft. There weren't many people too, if the lack of staff moving inside was any indication. From the car, he could see the flash of an old television perched on the counter and wondered if they were watching the news. He hoped otherwise since he'd heard too many news anchors dissecting his father's death, enough to make his ears bleed in frustration.

He'd thought of staying on the car until Mikasa finds him (she always does) but the thought of warm seats and hot chocolate stood out at the back of his mind like a sore thumb. The pouring rain didn't help either. Grudgingly, he locked the car and dragged himself inside the café, a trail of water following his every steps. A guy with a name tag "Erwin" greets him warmly, and maybe there was something on his face back then that made the guy turn off the telly and quietly asked if he wants something warm to drink. Eren couldn't have been more thankful for the solitude.

Two years later, he still comes back at least twice a week. Café Roselia was always empty in the afternoons. By then, the crowd from lunch would have fizzled out, and one of the waitress, Sasha, would offer him a cheerful "Oh, hey there, Eren!" as he goes to his regular seat.

The welcoming scent of freshly brewed coffee wafts through the air as Mikasa opens the door before him. "Mikasa! Eren! Armin!" Came the quick greeting. Predictably, it was Sasha, with a suspicious lump (of bread) on her apron's pocket while Connie looks like he's in the middle of telling Sasha off, waving a broom over his head.

"Mr. Yeagar!" Connie greets. "Welcome, sir!" Eren mentally winces at the formality. Connie was hired a few months back and the first time he sees Eren, he was wearing his usual D&G three piece suit and although he had requested to be dropped off a few blocks away from Roselia to avoid unnecessary attention, it was still a honest-to-god Lamborghini that Connie saw while he was wiping the tables outside.

"Please, just call me Eren, Connie."

Connie makes that noise that Sasha finds so hilarious, like he's a hamster being sucked in a drain. As usual Connie looks mortified by the very idea of calling Eren casually, and shakes his head, "No, I mean, with all due respect, sir. I couldn't do that. I mean, you're like this important person and—" He's blabbing now but Eren isn't annoyed in the slightest, if anything, he actually finds it mildly amusing. "It's fine, Connie." He says and he hears Sasha laughing heartily in the background.

Mikasa talks to Sasha for a while, occasionally glancing at Eren's direction. Armin heads for their table, followed by the young CEO. He casually removes his coat and rests it on the back of his seat. He fights off a grin as he turns at his friend. As usual, Armin feigns indifference and settles to looking resigned.

"Is there something wrong with my face?" Armin asks him politely.

Eren shakes his head. "No, nothing." Then his grin widens.

Armin's first impression of the café was actually rather disappointing. It was old and unpopular. Eren knows though that his friend secretly likes the vinyl record collection of the café and that's why he keeps coming back with them.

The place had character and the food is bloody fantastic; it keeps reminding them of summer vacations in Shinganshina, which didn't come as a surprise since Erwin, the owner of the café, had turned out to be from the said province. Mikasa was the one to tell this to him, like she did a background check the moment she discovered that Eren keeps coming back to the said place. She most likely did. For protection, she had said, when he asked her why.

The bell attached to the door rings the moment it opens. Since Eren is facing the entrance, he saw Erwin come in and waves a hand. The older man spots him and smiles in return before going to the kitchen.

Their drinks were served by Ymir, a dark skinned lady who at first seems cynical and bossy but has a soft spot for the sweet girl at the cash register, Krista. Hot chocolate with whipped cream for Eren, Cappucino for Mikasa, and Green Tea Latte for Armin.

Mikasa joins them afterwards, sipping her cappuccino with grace. Sometimes it bothers Eren how she can do almost anything and always make it look like a magazine photoshoot.

There is a comfortable silence for a while saved for the hushed argument between Sasha and Connie from the entrance and the flipping of book from the man seating near the window.

"So…Eren." Armin starts when it looks like no one is going to mention the elephant in the room. "You knocked out a board member. During a board meeting."

There is more silence before the three of them burst out laughing.

"Oh my god, did you see the look on his face before he lost consciousness?" Eren wheezes out. "His face is all bones but it's worth the pain when he hit the floor."

"Eren!" Mikasa tries to remain serious. "It's not funny. You're going to be the CEO. You can't punch board members."

"He is the CEO." Armin lobs back. "Of course he can."

"Quit spoiling him." Mikasa chided.

"Me? Spoiled?" Eren asks, all innocence. "Never."

Then Erwin appears out of nowhere, popping up behind Eren looking like someone's cat just died. He's a dog person.

"Someone bothering you at the office, Eren?" he asks.

Eren just tips his head to Erwin, with a smile that makes Mikasa feel uncomfortable.

"Nah, I took care of it." Eren says, thoroughly amused. "But thanks for asking."

"Natürlich. Kein problem, Bruder.*" says Erwin in his native language, his accent melting on his tongue, slowly and sure. He then proceeds to ruffle Eren's hair.

"I think I'm gonna throw up." Armin tells them, "Get a room, you two."

Eren gasps at him theatrically. "How could you, Erwin is like a brother to me!"

"Yeah, cause I'm like a brother to you too but I never ruffle your hair or talk to you with a weird language and looks at you like you're the personification of all my dreams." Armin retorts back, looking offended. He has nothing against homosexuality, but he has known Eren and Erwin for two years and they are like family, however dysfunctional they may be. It's like watching your parents flirt with each other. You won't ever get used to it.

But Eren just chuckles and replies "Aww, Armin, I don't know you feel that way."

Armin gawks, "I don't!"

"See, Eren? This is why I don't what him to be your secretary, you bully him." Mikasa tells them unhelpfully.

"He doesn't!" says the affronted blonde.

Erwin laughs at them like hasn't laugh for a long time. "Ah it is nice to be young."

"You're not much older than us alright." Eren sighs, genuinely dismayed. "Anyway, Erwin, can we… uhm talk?" He shoots Mikasa and Armin a look. "In private, perhaps?"

Mikasa raises a brow. "Only if you stay not 20 meters away from us. No funny business, Eren."

"Oh, well then, if you're fine with my office." Erwin suggested.

Eren doesn't need any more prompting than that and obediently follows Erwin to the back of the Café. Ymir shoots them a look but didn't say anything as they walked pass her.

Erwin's office is creepily organized, not because it's so clean but because it doesn't really looked used, or lived in. It is a nicely furnished room, yes, but unlike the rest of the café that screams coziness and home, his office has nothing. Erwin is a fairly likable guy so he wonders why this room looks so void. Erwin gets jokes, makes small talks and can read the atmosphere. He is astonishingly ordinary, for the lack of a better word. The only trait he has than can be considered adverse is probably the way he seems to know everything about everyone. He's too in-control sometimes, too involved.

That's probably the main reason why Eren opened up to him two years ago, like an angst-filled car stealing teenager on a cold Saturday night.

Karla Yeager is the wife of the late Grisha Yeagar, founder of the business giant TITAN CORP.. The company is divided into three divisions, or Walls, as their employees are fond to call it: Maria, Rose and Sina. From general necessities to advanced technology, Titan Corp. covers most of the products available in the market and has an unblemished reputation until the death of Mr. Yeager.

When her husband died so suddenly, Karla became the acting CEO until their only biological child and heir comes of age.

Eren was sixteen years old back then. He didn't quite understand the severity of what happened and how this affects his future. He just knows that his dad will be gone for a very long time. Grisha told him so.

Through media, the cause of his death was announced as heart failure, people know that he was sick anyway so this unfortunate event hardly became a subject of speculation— but truthfully, the case is still undisclosed. Grisha Yeager is missing.

Erwin offered him a seat before sitting himself. It oddly feels like an interrogation or when your teachers calls you for recitation and you don't know what to say.

"So, it is your father again, isn't it?" Erwin starts, eyes focused on Eren's.

He nods. "Yeah, well, he didn't contact me personally this time. Kitts Woeman delivered the message." He says then, "Clearly, he wants me to take off mom's life support. I replied with a punch. It's rather fitting, I think. I couldn't exactly write Fuck You Love, Your Son on Woeman's face, could I?"

Only Karla, Eren and a few selected people know what really happened to him but even that information is limited. "It was during a medical experiment," the doctors said, "Mr. Yeager insisted on testing the medicine on human subjects already. We know it's dangerous. And there are no willing test subjects. It was still too risky so we advised postponing the research. He didn't listen. Mr. Yeager is a stubborn man when it comes to his family."

"I don't really understand. He wants to save mom, but he used mom as… as his human experiment. He could have used me you know, he could have used anyone but I don't think mom would have allowed it.

"Mom loved that man, it is so stupid. Right after the testing, Da-, that man, disappeared. We didn't know what he discovered after the test. The side effects didn't manifests after a year so we thought it didn't work, that or perhaps, Grisha was just paranoid, that maybe the cure even worked you know. It was too good to be true."

When the topic is tackled by outsiders, Karla Yaegar would always find a way to avoid talking about it. Most people respected her decision until Eren's seventeenth birthday.

"He knows mom is dying back then and I think he is desperate to save her even if mom doesn't want to be saved. It's Leukemia. Mom stopped responding to the treatments when I was sixteen." Eren continues, voice dead with emotions. "Mom accepted her disease, and that is fine, I mean, she doesn't regret anything in her life, she told me this. She wants us to be happy, so she enjoys her remaining time as much as possible. The least we could do is be happy with her too."

Mrs. Yeager's sickness had brought a rather violent reaction to the board because Eren is not yet of legal age and if Karla is to die before her son turns eighteen, this almost means the downfall of the said giant corporation. Of course there are candidates, but Karla refuses to sign the papers even if her health worsens. She doesn't trust anyone. "Just one more year," she reasons. "I can do this for one more year."

Just until Eren is ready.

Eren loves his mother so much, everyone knows this. He's doing all of this for her. But sometimes, the pressure becomes too suffocating. The moment he turned eighteen, it's like everything he dreads happened all at once. He'd have to quit school. Karla's body took its toll and not even the doctors know when she will ever wake up. Whatever Grisha did to her, it is preventing her from dying. Which should have been a good thing, if only Karla wakes up.

Her body rejects any form of medicines, Grisha's experiment kept her heart beating. Doctors would eventually find implanted foreign microorganisms in there, but she wasn't even alive anymore, not in spirit at least. And because that is him mom right there, and what the hell should he do? He's eighteen for crying out loud; Eren doesn't want to take out the life support. Or maybe Eren just wants to spite his father.

Grisha wants to end it, he'd made his intentions known, but why? Even if they take it away, it doesn't guarantee anything. Would his mom be at peace now? Because no one knows what the fuck Grisha did to her.

Eren had read the medical reports enough to know that by the time he turned seventeen, Karla should have died already.

"Perhaps, your father wants to hide something." Erwin tells him. It must be pretty obvious that that thought repels Eren because Erwin immediately supplies, "Or maybe he really just wants your mom to be at peace."

"You're kidding me." he says flatly. "He doesn't have the right anymore." Eren hisses, "Hasn't he done enough?"

The moment Karla's body gave away, the responsibility of CEO was shoved to him, no one even stopped to ask if he's ready for this.

If Eren even wants it.

Most people assumes that he's lucky to have his life all planned out already but he doesn't feel fortunate at all, nothing is liberating anymore. If Mikasa and Armin weren't there during his darkest moments, he might have seriously considered swallowing all of those morphine pills months ago. It was a stupid thought. Mikasa didn't talk to him for days after that and Armin couldn't look at him directly in the eye.

"Don't you dare, Eren." She had told him, "don't you fucking dare."

Then, "I can't lose you too."

"Thanks for listening, Erwin." Eren tells him, eventually, after what seem like a long time just sitting there, staring at the back of his hand. "I mean it. This means a lot to me."

Erwin remembers the first time he'd seen this boy, walking in to his coffee shop like someone just died. Later he'd find out that someone sort of did and felt an immense sense of protectiveness, deep enough to offer him free cocoa and listen to the story of his life.

He might be on vacation now from the Survey Corps but it doesn't mean that he will love the human race any less.

"I know my services are cheaper than most psychiatrists." He says lightly and smiles when Eren snorts.

"I'd buy you a cup of coffee if you want", offers Eren.

"You offend me. I run a café." Erwin deadpans.

"Beer then?"

"I don't like alcohol."

"Then what? Anything I can give, it's yours."

Erwin settles into his desk chair and favors Eren with a flat unimpressed stare.

"Ich möchte nur, dass du mehr Lächeln.*"

"So what did you guys talk about? You were there for a while." Mikasa starts when Eren returns to his seat, Erwin, thankfully, not with him.

"Oh just some stuff."

Mikasa remains unconvinced. "Stuff?"

"Boys stuff?" Eren tries.

Armin scowls at him. "If I ever, ever spot a hickey on you, I swear I'd personally wrap your neck with the ugliest scarf I could find."

Frowning, Eren asks "Why are you so convinced that we are like that? Are you jealous? 'Cause you sound like your jealous."

"I can't believe you are asking me that question."

Eren asks "I swear, you are so snappy today. What the hell happened?"

Mikasa and Armin levels him a look. It is his sister who breaks the silence.

"We know about Grisha, okay? We're just upset that you didn't tell us about it."

"And we think... Erwin knows."

That tiny wrench in Eren's stomach definitely isn't guilt, but he says, "What? Who told you about that?"

"You'd be pleased to know that no one did." Mikasa replies, "Armin found the texts, the voice mails. Eren, we are worried about you. You can tell us this things. We are family, aren't we?" asks Mikasa, reasonably.

Eren stares at the table, at his arms folded underneath. He looks around the room, at Sasha who laughing at the counter, and at the guy reading a book by the window.

"Does that mean you can invade my privacy?" He asks, suddenly bitter.

Armin visibly twitches at the accusation but remains unperturbed.

"Eren, that's not the point. The point is that you can't ju—"

"Bullshit." He returns. "You talk to me about trust but your actions proves otherwise."

"Eren..."

"I can't deal with this." Eren starts to grab his jacket and stood up, clearly intent on leaving. "I will tell it to you guys, eventually, you know. But right now, I just… I need to be alone." And storms out of the café, ignoring Connie's voice and Sasha's questioning stare.

Eren just feels so mad at the world right now. Mikasa's always treating him like a child and Armin, who he relies on more than anything to always be on his side deceives him. He always thinks it will be easier if he doesn't tell anyone about Grisha and he's always wrong. He feels awful, nevertheless. It's always like every day he have to keep on smiling at people, talking as if everything were normal and okay, while all the time he feels like carrying a loaded weight of unhappiness inside of him.

To be fair, he knows Mikasa and Armin are trying to help. It just happens that right now, Eren is at his most vulnerable state, he bruises easily, tear faster, cry quicker and remember longer.

"God, the older I get, the less people I trust. I shouldn't have— "

Eren almost misses the sound of the crunching of metal, the tinkling of glass as it shatters if the people around him hadn't stop moving. There was a car accident right in front of him and it pulled him right out of his thoughts as people started rush passed him to get a better view. And because it's going to be another day before he stops being furious about Mikasa and Armin, he decides to be in his pettiest behavior and calls Erwin instead to say that "Hey, can I crash at your place tonight?"

Translations (thanks google):

Natürlich. Kein problem, Bruder: Of course. No problem, brother.

Ich möchte nur, dass du mehr Lächeln: I just want you to smile more.

A/N: I assumed Eren can speak German in here. German sounds sorta sexy :) R&R!