A week passed. He hadn't seen Levi at all. Eren got up, went to school, stayed awake until four am, and slept for two or three hours, and then rinsed, washed, and repeated. He felt empty, but it couldn't just be over Levi. Or maybe it was. He kept going over and over his last meeting with Levi, and tried to come up with alternate scenarios where Levi never even came close to saying 'I don't want to see you'. He tormented himself with ideas of seeing Levi again, and having his dream come true; seeing Levi in person. He daydreamed about seeing Levi at college, and just running up to him and squeezing him tight. He shook his head.

Mikasa had taken Eren to get his glasses, well, more like dragged him. He'd sat in the chair with his shoulders hunched and his face down to his knees. He'd silently moved his head and done as the Optician had asked. Mikasa had watched him with a concerned frown, and she hesitated to reach out to Eren, and to ask him what was wrong. She took him home after, and rummaged through his cupboard as Eren curled up on the settee. Mikasa opened the fridge and opened all of his usual snack hiding spots, and it was all barely touched. She peered through the doorway to watch Eren. He pulled his head inside his jumped and made himself as small as he could. He shivered and jerked occasionally. Mikasa approached him carefully, and crouched down in front of him. She slowly laid a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Eren." She murmured. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." He replied underneath his jumper.

"No," She sighed, "you're not. You've not eaten anything, have you?"

"Just leave me alone." Eren mumbled.

"Eren." Mikasa shook her head. "You know I'm here for you."

Mikasa lifted Eren's jumper and looked at his face. She lifted his chin, and her heart sank at the sight of sunken eyes, and red eyes. She gently brushed his cheek and touched her forehead to his. Mikasa closed her eyes.

"You look like shit." Mikasa opened her eyes to meet Eren's sorry ones.

"Thanks."

"Maybe you need a distraction and a good spruce up would be good. Some sleep and food would be of help." Mikasa gently took Eren's jumper off of him.

"But I don't want to."

"Tough luck, buttercup." Mikasa offered a smile. "We don't have to go out for long, but I want you to spend some time out of this flat."

"Fine." Eren sighed.

"Good."

Mikasa let Eren get showered as she picked something nice for him to wear. She laid out the simple shirt and jeans on the bed for Eren, and then tried to tidy up Eren's atrocious flat a little. She put clothes from the floor into the laundry, and righted the settee cushions. She gathered up scattered DVDs and stray blankets, and put them into their rightful places. She soon heard a rustling in Eren's bedroom and knocked on his door.

"Are you at least half decent?"

"Yeah." Came the mumbled reply.

She opened his bedroom door and lifted up the shirt Eren still had to put on. She handed it to him and searched through his shoes to find something that would look good with the outfit she'd given Eren, and just decided on some plain black converse. Eren took them and nodded his thanks. Mikasa sat on Eren's bed and tapper her fingers over the screen of her phone idly, and made sure that the people who'd agreed to come were definitely coming.

"I'm dressed." Eren shrugged.

"Teeth. Brush them." Mikasa didn't look up from her phone.

Eren walked into the bathroom and got ready to brush his teeth. He looked up into the mirror. He had bags under his eyes, and he just looked exhausted. He shook his head, he was fine. He had just missed a couple of hours of sleep, there was no harm in that. It was easier for him to stay awake, than to go to sleep and still be tormented by the images of Levi, and then for they'd disappear, like a mirage. He started to brush his teeth, when he noticed a crack in the mirror. He frowned and tapped his finger against it. He noticed a shadow of something large behind him, and he turned around. A car horn blared in his ears and a bright light filled his eyes. He screwed his eyes shut and waited for some kind of impact, but nothing came. Adrenaline rushed through his veins, and he fought to calm his heart rate down. There was a knock at the bathroom door.

"Are you almost done in there?"

"I, uh, yeah." Eren quickly finished brushing his teeth and cast one final glance to the mirror, before he left the bathroom.

"You okay?" Mikasa's eyebrows drew together. "You look a little bit spooked."

"I'm okay." Eren nodded a little and quickly changed the topic. "Where are we going?"

"Out." Mikasa walked over to the front door and opened it for Eren. "No," She said as Eren reached for his wallet, "you won't need it. You're not going to pay for anything."

"Wait, so you're paying?" Eren shook his head. "No, I'll need it." He grabbed his wallet and headed out.

"You won't need it." Mikasa replied simply.

They walked into town, and Mikasa led Eren down some back alleys, and towards a cosy restaurant. It had a simple sign above it reading 'Sasha's'. Vines grew up the side of the building and creeped inside a little window near the top, and made criss-cross patterns as it went. They went inside the humble black door, and were shown into a small dining area. Tables covered in black cloth and adorned with little vases of white lilies covered the cheap rectangular tables. Mikasa led Eren to a table near the back, where Armin sat next to Jean. Armin smiled angelically as Jean spouted some joke he'd told a hundred times before. Eren immediately frowned as soon as he saw Jean, and he was tempted to just walk straight out, but Mikasa's gentle hand convinced him otherwise.

"Armin." Mikasa smiled. "Jean." She nodded towards him.

"Hey." Armin waved to them.

"What's up, Jaeger?" Jean lifted his chin.

"Nothing. What's up with your hair?" Eren went to pull up a chair, but Armin shook his head.

"Ah, no, you sit here, I just need to talk with Mikasa for a minute." He got up and pushed Eren into his seat, opposite Jean.

"Huh? Why?"

"Nothing you need to worry about." Armin waved him off. "We'll be right back." He vanished.

Jean smacked his lips together and whistled. He looked at Eren, and Eren raised an eyebrow. Jean looked down to the table and fiddled with the tablecloth. He picked up a lily from the vase and twirled it in his fingers, and inspected it closely.

"What are you doing?" Eren's eyebrow twitched.

"I was just looking." Jean put the flower back. "So," he leaned back against the cushion rest of the seat, "what's been going on?"

"What do you mean?"

"What have you been doing?"

"Why would you want to know?" Eren narrowed his eyes. He wasn't exactly in the mood for any pratting about Jean wanted to do.

"Just being polite." Jean shrugged.

"Oh." Eren frowned. "That's weird."

"What do you mean? I'm always polite."

"Bull. Shit." Eren shook his head. "You so aren't."

"Am too." Jean lifted his eyes up to Eren.

"Not." Eren raised an eyebrow.

"Yep, I totally am, and if you disagree, you're just saying it because you're jealous."

"Jealous? Why the fuck would I be jealous?" Eren grumbled.

"Because I clearly am more handsome and overall nicer than you." Jean smirked.

"Hey!" Eren stood up. "If you want to start petty shit, then we can do it some other time, because I'm not in the mood."

"Yeah? What's wrong?" Jean eased off a little.

"I just… I've had a lot on my mind lately." Eren shrugged. "It's nothing."

"Like what?" Jean leaned his forearms on the table.

"Just… stuff." Eren shook his head.

"Well, what about if we just went out somewhere? I heard there's a small fair in town?"

"Why should I? You're an asshole."

"Great." Jean laughed. "I was just trying to be nice."

"Are you sure you're able to be nice?"

"I'm being kinda nice now, aren't I?" Jean tilted his head.

"I guess. You're not blatantly insulting me, so it's a start." Eren shrugged.

"Well, what do you say? Do you want to go and walk around some shit rides?"

Eren paused for a moment. Was it really worth spending time out in the cold wind, just to walk around some probably fatal rides with a guy that he wasn't sure was his enemy or a close friend? Was there a point to it? Probably not, but he guessed it might be better to do that, than to spend time alone in his flat and going through his cycle of doubt. It was better to spend an hour or two getting a cold nose, than to spend that time in silence, alone, and feeling a heavy weight in his chest. Maybe this would help to start to ease that weight a little. Maybe this would take his mind away from his dreams and Levi. He bit his lip. He nodded.

"Sure."