"Can I help you boys?"

Her voice had a small vibration in it, higher pitched and sweet. The gentle voice she always used with costumers. Soft, but commanding. Fair and reasonable, but there was a firmness, disobedience would not be tolerated. Her free arm went to lean on her knee, hand coming up to prop her chin a little higher while still being relaxed. Unashamedly showing off her wrist band, which gleamed a piercing silver, just like her eyes. The message in her posture was clear enough to tell them who she was without the band or the color chart however.

Silver: Owner

Lilith may own the club on paper, but honestly speaking she always admitted to Eren really running the place. Eren disagreed to that, Lilith own the club and himself. They were a team. Eren paid the bills, set up investors, booked private parties, attractions and lessons set up. Employees' checks. However Lilith worked in a different way, where Eren was very good with people, being almost socially inept most of the time, Lilith was charismatic, a born leader. People of all types were attracted to her in that way. Happy, but not a pushover, she demanded respect. If she didn't get it, well, she could more than handle herself, but Eren wasn't afraid to dish out a little punishment with the baseball bat hidden in the back of his closet. And he were sure that Ridley wouldn't mind taking any of her new whips out for a test drive.

One good thing about having staff that were practically family, people like Ridley. A hard ass, kinda security guard, kinda just slacker, who would rather shoot herself than admit she loved and cared about all her friends. The only one she admitted to ever loving out loud is her girlfriend Anna, the bartender. One thing that scared Eren about Ridley was that fact he one time saw her hoist a full grown man over her head and with a war cry and throw him to the floor. Call WWE, she could have fun beating the shit out of professionals, right?

"Eren? Is that you?" Armin, you're smart, I know you are. Why do you sound so unsure of yourself? Eren severed his consciousness from his thoughts, shoving them into the back of his minds. Emotions are bad, the past is pain. Numb, go numb. And everything's okay again. He looked up at Lilith, waiting for her response. She smiled down at him softly, dragging her nails gently across his jaw before returning to playing with his hair again. Shaggy brown and a bit messy, sticking in every which way.

"I'm sorry, the name isn't ringing any bells, one moment." Lilith straightened up a bit, leaning back to face the bar, she called out. "Ann, you hear about an Eren…?"

"Jaeger, his name was Eren Jaeger." Lilith gave Eren a glance, nothing flickered across his face. Cold. She twirled a messy strand around a finger as she called out again.

"Eren Jaeger?" Anna leaned over, a towel in one hand from wiping the bar as she leaned over to reach a little closer to Lilith, she was a little soft of speech and hard of hearing, so getting close made things easier. Good thing was that Lilith was pretty loud too.

"Uh, sorry, I don't think so. Rouge?" Eren looked up from the computer screen at the mention of his nickname. Lilith spoke this time.

"Do we have anything on the registered members list?" Eren looked down, clicking on a few screens and scrolled through them. Scanning them thoroughly. Eren mentally crossed his fingers, he knew that his voice had changed over the years, gotten rougher, deeper than when he was a teenager. He hoped they didn't recognize it.

"No, we have an Aaron Jensen, but that's the closest I have." Lilith gave a kind smile to him and the other boys. Petting his head again as he spoke to the two hopeful males, the once hopeful males. They looked crushed now, staring at him as if he were responsible for crushing their dreams. It sent a pang through his heart. That look didn't look right on them, especially not Armin. He never wanted to hurt them, but there wasn't a choice. There wasn't anywhere left to run, nowhere to hide as stupid Eren Jaeger anymore. Nowhere safe, not while he was him. It was for the best. He hoped it was at least.

"Okay, thank you anyway." Another crestfallen smile form the blonde. "I'm sorry for bothering you two, the resemblance was just, startling. Lilith reached over to Armin, giving him an innocent pat on the shoulder.

"It's okay, it seems like you care a lot about this boy. It was no trouble at all. Have a good time at our establishment okay?" They walked away, heads hung low, Eren restrained the urge to call out to them. They wouldn't like the new him. They would wonder what happened to the old him, and that wasn't a past he wanted to bring up. Ever. It was better dead, gone, and six feet in the cold ground.

A phone beeped, vibrating against the back of his head, which was leaning against Lilith's thigh. He cocked his head and looked at the clock on the wall. Was it that time already? They always were punctual, weren't they? Eren tugged on Lilith's sleeve to gain her attention.

"Hmm? Yes, Er-Rouge?" She looked around for a moment, making sure no one heard her small slip up. Eren didn't mind, no one was here to hear what she called him anyway. He wiggled the phone out of her pocket and handed it to her. How she didn't feel it vibrating, he had no clue, she never has and probably never will. It wasn't a big deal really however. Lilith looked at the screen and sighed.

"Are they ever going to quit? We're perfectly legal after all. If that want illegal they should go to freaking MP's down the street." Eren gave a small smirk, it was a little shaky, very awkward, but Lilith knew that was the best he could do anymore.

"No, I think you forget the people that run MP are one of their own. They'd never admit to their officers taking part in something like this. It'd be a scandal. Even though everyone knows about it." There was a pause of silence, as they just ignored the buzzing phone. They'd end up coming here, whether they answered the phone or not. They'd enjoy a little peace while they could. It was only day time after all. The club didn't really come to life until the night crowd came in. The day comers were mostly sparse and more exclusive, here with their partners. Giving Lilith and him time to just hang out and relax, talk. Her voice broke the silence once more.

"Old friends of yours?" Eren nodded his head simply, saying nothing more on the matter. Lilith knew his past. She knew what he had at stake. He didn't want to hurt anyone, didn't want to hurt himself. Not anymore. He had risked it all to live in peace, finally somewhere stable, safe, and happy. He didn't want to jeopardize himself or his old friends. The ones that meant so much to him. So, he had to stay away. It was for the best.

Always for them. Always for the best.

Even if it hurt.