I stood at the counter inside the Sina Café waiting for mine and Armin's drinks. It was unbelievable; it was already the day for our first class of the semester. Lucky me, my first class just so happened to be my English class. Well at least I had Armin in there with me.

"Your order, Eren." Said the petite strawberry blonde handing me the drink tray from behind the counter containing the drinks.

"Thanks Petra." I said looking at her name tag for her name. I accepted the drinks and walked back outside to where Armin was leaning on a pole doing something on his phone while waiting for me.

"Here you go." I said handing over the tray to Armin after taking out my drink. He gave me a look for handing him the tray but he then threw the tray anyway in a nearby trash bin before returning to me.

"Thanks, Eren." The blonde responded, "Excited you get to see your crush again?" He asked shimmying towards me with a smirk. The dork.

"Um no. He hates me and I really don't want to take that class anymore. I'm still thinking about ditching." I sighed because the last few days have been filled of me telling myself I don't like him and that he isn't attractive to try and get me to forget about him, but to no avail. I was pretty sure it only made me think of him more than I intended. "I don't even think he's that cute anymore anyway." I lied out loud.

"Oh come on, we both know you are trying to stop thinking about him all the time. And we both also know he isn't unattractive. Just a bit…sour. Not to mention, very intimidating. You sure know how to pick em'. And you can't ditch you need to be there, it's the first lecture. "

I raised my eyebrow and ignored the last part, "Sour?"

"Sour."

"Well I guess he is sour-"

"And you think he is cute?" He cut me off.

I gave him a pout. Still can't lie to him, I mean he would be able to tell anyway. I sighed, "Yes he is attractive but like you said, sour….if you want to call it that."

He looked at me as I spoke taking in my facial expression and thinking. "You like him. Don't you, Eren? A lot I'm guessing."

I just sighed in response and Armin understood that I hadn't admitted it to myself yet. "I can't say that and I won't. Admitting it would make things harder."

I looked up to see that we were already on campus and heading towards the building that held our first class.

"I could see you guys together." Armin said sounding like it slipped out. He turned to me immediately. "I'm sorry." He almost whispered as an apologetic look crossed his visage.

I shrugged "Armin, he's my professor and like seven years older. You know Mikasa wouldn't approve of that-"

"Since when do you care about Mikasa's approval? Now you are just making up excuses." He said, cutting me off. "And who said you have to make a move on him while you are still his student? I sure as hell didn't." He then smirked. "But if you want some excitement and wanna have some sort of taboo love, then go right ahead. I'm not going to stop you."

I sighed at his persistence. Honestly, I found it endearing yet annoying that he wouldn't just drop it. "Funny. Armin look, I know you just want me to be happy but we both know he wouldn't want a dumb kid like me." I trailed off feeling my shoulders drop and heart clench at the thought of never being enough for the man. I was never one to have self-esteem issues but Levi just seemed so impossible to live up to.

He huffed, but then smiled. "You weren't one to ever give up, so don't start now. I have a feeling you won't anyway. You'll snap back into your tenacious self soon enough." We were about to enter the classroom as Armin stopped walking and I followed suit, waiting for him to say what he was thinking. "You should have seen the way he looked at you when we were walking away Eren." And then he walked off into the classroom with a soft expression on his face.

We walked into the classroom and up to one of the middle rows with two empty seats next to each other. Levi wasn't in the classroom yet. I was a little confused as to why that disappointed me as much as it did. Probably because I hadn't seen the man in a while and was looking forward to it, I concluded. It was just irritating to notice how much I was enjoying the thought of walking in and him greeting me. Not like that would ever happen. Just my imagination running wild again.

Everyone's attention turned towards the door when it slammed shut and in walked Mr- I mean, Levi. I felt I needed to call him that in the classroom (even in my head). It's just easier to call him Levi though I figured. It's not like he will ever know so.

"Good morning, brats. Before I start on what you should expect this semester in my class, there are some ground rules. First, absolutely no talking while I'm talking. That's just damn rude so don't do it. I shouldn't have to say that one but there are some of you who still think that it's okay. It's not. Period." He slammed his brief case shut after taking out everything he needed and the loud noise made everyone who wasn't paying attention jump and look up to Levi.

"Second, you will wait to the end of my lectures to have your questions answered so don't even bother raising your hand. And finally, you will clean up after yourselves. This room at the moment is spotless. If after you all leave there is even one piece of crap on the floor I will take five points off of Everyone's grades. Do I make myself clear?" Everyone nodded.

Connie who I've known and Marco (I didn't even know either of them was taking this class) were seated in the row in from of Armin and I. He raised his hand. Levi looked up to him and cocked an eyebrow. He stared for a moment then let out an exasperated sigh.

"Can anyone please tell me what my second rule was for the sake of this idiot over here?" He said while motioning to Connie.

Well that wasn't very nice. At the moment I can't exactly remember why I have a crush on this man. He's so…sour. Thanks Armin. I will forever refer to him as sour.

I was in fact paying attention to the rules he was listing off only two minutes ago but there was no way in hell I was going to raise my hand and have him call on me. I get the feeling that if talk to him I'll just make a fool of myself. Especially since I'm in front like 50 other people right now.

Armin decided to raise his hand. How wonderful, I have a strong feeling he did that on purpose. I looked over at him to see him smirking. Yep, defiantly on purpose.

"Mr. Arlert?" Levi called on him.

Shoot. I tried to duck my head in an awkward way in an attempt to hide my face as Armin snickered. I elbowed him sharply in the side and instead of continuing to try and hide my face, I put my head down on my desk.

"Not to ask questions till the end." He answered proudly.

"Thank you Mr. Arlert. Jaeger, head up."

What? He actually just said my name? Sure it was my last name but it was still my name. And it sounded absolutely perfect rolling off is tongue in that commanding manner. What is wrong with me? Oh my Jesus.

"You're welcome." Said Armin. I hadn't picked my head up yet but I could just hear the smirk in his voice.

"I didn't thank you for anything." I grumbled. He just chuckled.

I picked my head up and shot a glare at him before I realized Levi was standing at the front of the room waiting for me to actually lift my head. He is staring at me. Oh my Jesus. And the moment I realized that he was staring at me, he glanced away.

The rest of class was boring since Levi was just giving instructions and then assigned us a book to read. I didn't notice I was staring at him until he dismissed the class and Armin poked me in the side looking for my attention.

I looked over at him and it didn't seem like he noticed I was staring at the man this whole but I knew better than to think he just assumed I was zoned out. Luckily he decided to leave me alone about it.

"Hey, you wanna go eat something before I have to go to work?" He questioned. He was the one with the job but didn't have a car. I always drove him though since our family was always well off since Dad is a doctor and all. I always ended up hanging around the Rose coffee shop anyway to keep him company when business was slow.

"Sure, where do you want to go?" I picked last time so it was his turn.

"Well I'm in the mood for a bunch of sweets so how about we just stop at a gas station? You can pick reading?" I had a smile forming on my face as a remembered how we used to do things like this all the time with Marco, Jean, Sasha, Connie, Bert, Reiner and even Mikasa would join in. Afterwards, we would all be so hyper and start acting like lunatics, save for Mikasa. But just thinking about how close we all still are brought a smiled to my face.

"Yeah, that sounds great." He replied with a smile to match mine.

"Boys!" We were interrupted by Levi who was still holding the door open with an impatient look on his face waiting for us to leave. What a gentle man, holding the door open for everyone. Wait, now is not the time Eren. I hadn't even realized we were still in the classroom and I hadn't even picked up my bag. "Please discuss your dining plans outside of my room. I do have another class after you all. So please, get out." He looks pissed.

Damn it. I really wanted to get off his bad side since our first encounter. I'm obviously just making it worse for myself.

I sighed while picking up my bag and tugging Armin along by the sleeve in hopes that he would move faster than his normal snail pa

Should I apologize? Yeah that sounds like a good idea.

"Hey Levi," he looked up to me and I lost my train of thought because, one, I got distracted by his slate grey orbs and not to mention the close proximity. Second, I noticed he literally had to look up to me. I found it adorable but man, he must be no more than 5'3. "Um, sorry for holding you up and wasting your time."

Nailed it.

He just continued to stare. After what felt like 30 seconds of him scrutinizing my face, he spoke up. "It's alright I suppose. Though I'm still surprised a brat like you had the decency to apologize. I must say I'm impressed." He smirked and I felt my knees lock, vaguely wondering if he did things like this to everyone on purpose to get a reaction or just me.

He said he was impressed with me, oh my- wait, did he call me a brat?

Armin was to my right snickering. I wanted to glare at him but didn't want to risk doing that in front of Levi and possibly making him think I'm childish... again. So I settled for staring down at my feet and playing with my hands as I felt my face heat up.

"Well Eren, shouldn't you and Mr. Arlert be on your way?"

My head shot up in realization of him calling me by my first name and Armin by his last. So he did remember. I felt a jolt of happiness spark in my chest and couldn't hold back the grin that spread over my face.

"Yes Mr. Ackerman sorry for making you wait again. Have a nice day!" I cringed at how enthusiastic that sounded. Even for me.

Levi simply nodded, bored expression once again on his face, and held a hand up motioning for us to go through the door.

Armin headed out and had to tug on my shirt to get me to move as I was still staring at Levi who was about to let go of the door. And as we left and the door was closing I could have sworn I heard a chuckle from inside. I found the noise ethereal

We ended up stacking up on junk food as planned and once I dropped Armin off at work, I headed to the library to get two copies of The River Why for Armin and me. I headed back to the Rose Café with about two hours left until Armin's shift ended so I ordered a pumpkin spice latte and started reading the book. Armin didn't mind since he would catch up later on and end up finishing the book before me anyway. I was pleased to see that there was a touch of humor in the novel and bean to enjoy it.

When Armin had packed up his belongings after his shift had ended, we headed out and back to the dorms. I blasted some My Chemical Romance in the car then when Armin took his turn he put on The xx. But of course we always agreed to listen to one song by Acceptance before we got out of the car no matter what.

"Don't you just love music Armin?"

He gave me a 'did you seriously just ask me that question?' look and I laughed.

"Let's head inside before it get dark and start hitting up the snacks." He said. I just turned off the car to show him I agreed.

After raiding the candy and junk and each of us getting to chapter six, we decided to stop for the night and I had Armin give me his opinion on how the song sounded since I had finish and had shown the group but no one outside. I always showed Armin first but since I got a deadline this time I had to show the group first.

"That was really awesome Eren, I loved it. When and where will you guys be preforming next?"

"Uh, Club Maria in two months."

"Is everyone going?"

"Yeah."

"You know who else you should invite?" I knew where he was going with this but decided to play along.

"Who?" I asked innocently.

"Levi!" He giggled. Then I got an idea.

"Okay. I will. After you invite Erwin." I smirked as I saw him blush.

"Promise you'll invite Levi after?"

"Purple pinky panda promise." And we both erupt into laughter.

"You are like ten times gayer than me I swear." He said through gasps.

We both ended up crawling into bed shortly after our laughing fit had died down and I was almost asleep when Armin spoke up. "Hey, Eren."

"Hmm?"

"Did you hear Levi laugh as we walked out the door too?"

I froze as I realized it wasn't my imagination. I was actually happy that he really did laugh and now I knew since Armin heard it too, but still wondering why he laughed in the first place.

I smiled and I was 100% sure Armin could hear my smile through my response. "Yeah. I did hear it."