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“Eren.” Someone is yelling my name, but I’m too comfortable to move. “Eren!” The shouting is getting louder and it feels like someone is pushing me. I feel someone right next to my face. “EREN, WAKE UP NOW OR YOU’LL BE LATE FOR SCHOOL!” the shouting in my ear causes me to jolt upright and fall off the bed with a thud. Lying on the floor in pain, I slowly start to regain consciousness. At least I feel wide awake now. I look around the room to see Mikasa standing next to me and looking down on me. “What the fuck, Mikasa.” I rub at the back of my head to ease the pain a bit. I try to look for something to grab on to so that I can slowly lift myself off the ground. After dragging myself up, I look at the window that is right next to my bed. The blinds are shut, but I can see the sunlight that is forcing it’s way into the room where the blinds fail to cover the window. This is enough to tell me that it is indeed time to get ready. “couldn’t you have woken me up in a nicer way?” Mikasa was standing by the door, all dressed up and ready for school. She still wears the red scarf I gave her when we adopted her. She never takes it off even when it’s the middle of summer. I live with Mikasa, my adopted sister, and my mom. My dad, Grisha, walked out on us when I was five years old. My mom vas devastated and we moved from our house in Shiganshina. Staying in that house got too much for her because of all the memories of him there. Me and my mom moved to a new house in Trost. We adopted Mikasa five years ago because of her parents’ death. Mikasa is the same age as me. She is half Asian and has long black hair. She's really calm and quiet and gets good grades in school, which makes my mom really proud of her. She has always been really popular with the guys. I bet she would attract even more guys if she would start smiling a bit and stop clinging to me all the time. “I have tried waking you up for 10 minutes now. This was the nicest I could do when you refuse to wake up” she says with her usual bored expression. “Now that you’re up, get dressed fast. Breakfast is ready downstairs and you have 10 minutes before we have to meet up with Armin.” She walks out and I’m left alone to get ready. I decide on taking a quick shower. I grab my towel and head in to the bathroom. I look at myself in the mirror and see that my hair is all over the place. Maybe the shower will help, but nothing usually works to tame the messy brown mop of hair on top of my head. I get in and turn the water on. Nothing feels better than the warm water hitting my tired body. Steam fills the room and I grab the soap to quickly scrub myself clean. After I’m done, I get out and grab the towel to dry myself and head into my room to get dressed. The room is a complete mess. Clothes scattered everywhere, papers on the desk and on the floor filled with drawings, books placed not where they should be. Cleaning the room would have to come another day as I’m probably already late. I quickly get dressed and head out of my room. I walk downstairs to find Mikasa sitting by the dining table. “Did mom leave for work already?” My mom works as a nurse, and because of that, works long hours. She always had a tendency to overwork herself, which makes me worry about her too much sometimes. After dad left us, mom changed a lot. I think she wanted to prove to herself and others that she didn’t need Grisha in her life, and that she could manage taking care of me and Mikasa all by herself.“Yes, she left around 6 in the morning. She told me that she will come home later than usual, and already made us dinner which is in the fridge” There she goes again, overworking herself. Me and Mikasa are fully capable of taking care of ourselves. “Hurry up and eat, we have to leave soon.” I sit down by the table and quickly eat the breakfast Mikasa has prepared for us. She made scrambled eggs on toast. Her scrambled eggs are the best, so creamy like and perfect. As soon as I finish eating, we grab our backpacks and head out to meet Armin. It’s our first day of high school. I’m actually a bit excited to see how this day will turn out to be. Everyone always talks about how everything exciting happens in high school. I guess I’m curious to see if that’s the case. I spot Armin further down on the road. He is standing there, looking really excited, waving toward us. I quickly run up to him, Mikasa not far behind. “Hey guys! How are you? Are you as excited as I am?” I can see the excitement in Armin. His eyes are lighting up and his smile is really big. He’s almost jumping up and down. I met Armin shortly after moving to Trost. We’re close friends and he also lives close by with his grandfather. Armin has short blonde hair and doesn’t look like the toughest guy out there. He loves books more than anything, and always wants to read about anything he finds interesting. He has a smaller build, and is therefore an easier target for bullying. This is how me and him became friends. Some older guys were picking on him when we were younger, and I tried to chase them away. It ended up with me getting my ass kicked, but at least they left Armin alone. We started hanging out after that, and we became fast friends.“Yeah, probably not as much as you though.” We start walking and before we know it, we’ve arrived at school, and it’s filled with students already. People seem as excites as we are. There’s a big board in the hall. On it we find what group we’re in. I’m with both Mikasa and Armin which is lucky for us. I recognize some other names as we went to the same middle school together, but most names are foreign to me. The bell rings and that means it’s time for assembly. Assembly is boring and just too long. Why do the school staff think talking about how great the school is for two hours is a good idea. It’ll only make me more sleepy rather than excited. After the principal is done talking, we leave the assembly hall and go to our assigned classroom. The seats are oriented so that two and two sit together. I tell Mikasa and Armin to just sit next to each other and sit behind them. I notice a guy with freckles approaching my desk and sits next to me. “Hi, I’m Marco Bott! It’s nice to meet you!” He stretches out his hand and I grab it. At least someone that seems nice sat themselves next to me“Eren Yeager” we shake hands and soon after, the teacher walks in. “Hi everyone. I will be your teacher for your first year here in Trost High. My name is Hange and I hope we’ll all get along! I thought we could start with introductions. Just tell the rest of the class your name and something you are interested in.” Hange looks way too excited and jumpy for a teacher. She has these big rectangular glasses and her brown hair is put up in a messy ponytail. She kind of looks a bit crazy, but I guess that’s better than a strict and boring teacher.Other students are starting to introduce themselves. I catch the name of some students. There’s a girl named Krista Lenz, which looks too nice for her own good. Next to Krista sits Ymir. She looks annoyed. She also doesn’t seem to realize what personal space is with the way she is clinging to Krista.Behind them are two guys named Reiner Braun and Bertolt Hoover. Reiner has blond hair and looks way too big for a freshman. Berthold is the same, but he is freakishly tall rather than well built. Either way, both look a bit intimidating. Behind them there’s a girl sitting alone. She said her name is Annie Leonhart, but didn’t comment on any interests. She also has a bored expression on her face like Mikasa. There are also two other guys in our class. Jean Kirstein, looks kind of like a horse with his long face, and he also has an undercut. He seems to think too highly of himself. Connie Springer, a short bald guy who just seems very outgoing. Another girl in our class introduced herself as Sasha Blouse. Her interests is apparently food, food and more food. I think I even saw her drooling. What a weird person. This class is filled with different people. Most appear kind of strange, but I guess I have to be open minded if I want to get to know the others. Before I know it, it’s Marco’s turn to introduce himself. He seems really excited and too cheerful as he states his interests. After Marco it’s my turn. Shit, I haven’t though of anything to say. I’ll just have to come up with something quick. I stand up awkwardly.“I’m Eren Yeager. I guess if I had to say an interests, it would be drawing.” It’s quiet for a bit before Hange asks the next person. I hate having attention directed towards me. Drawing is something I have done as long as I can remember. I used to have an extremely small temper. Still do, but it’s more manageable now. Drawing helped me direct that anger to something else, something more creative and meaningful and it has stuck by me ever since. We soon finish with the introductions and Hange moves on to the next part which is basically just explaining how the year is going to look like. Soon after, the bell rings and we have a break. Armin turns back towards me. “Eren, should we go and buy some lunch?” “Hey can we join?” the guy named Connie asks us.“We’ll join you guys too, you’ll come with, right krista?” Reiner asks us, and looks towards krista. “Of course! Only if it’s fine with you guys!” krista says and looks towards me Armin and Mikasa. “Yeah sure, the more the more the merrier!” Armin says. “Marco you should join us too.” This is how most of our class ended up having lunch together in the cafeteria. Annie joined us, but she is sitting on the far end of the table next to Berthold minding her own business. Sasha also joined us. Seeing her almost swallow her food whole is making me loose appetite. Mikasa seems to notice this and stuffs my face with a loaf of bread. “Eren you have to eat.” I loose my breath and quickly push her hand away.“Mikasa, stop babying me. I don’t need you to feed me.” She puts the bread down and continues her own meal quietly. I know she’s just looking out for me, but if I don’t tell her properly, she won’t stop with trying to take care of me all the time.“Hey you. Eren was it, right?” Jean asks, quietly for a change. He and Connie are a bit loudmouthed and I still can’t get over how he kind of looks like a horse. “Yeah, what’s up?” He hesitates a bit and looks behind me where Mikasa is sitting. I quickly get what he is trying to ask, but it’s fun seeing how flustered he’s getting. It hasn’t even been a day and Mikasa already has an admirer. Too bad she rejects everyone that tries to approach her. “If you’re interested, you should just drop it. Better to loose hope now than later.” Jean suddenly stands up and is as red as a tomato. “Hey! What are you implying, I’m a catch! I’m ten times more better looking than you will ever be!” Jean got the attention of everyone sitting at our table. What the fuck is this guys problem. He can say that all he wants but I know that I have good looks. I’m tall, and while I don’t look like Reiner, I still am a bit muscular. I have also been told that my ocean coloured eyes are one of my best features. The problem is that as soon as girls see my short temper and slightly awkwardness, they tend to not bother with me. This is actually a bit of a relief as I have never felt an attraction at all towards any of the girls so this just saves me the effort of rejecting them.Still, this guy seems to like getting under peoples skin. I quickly get up and push him a bit. “what’s your problem Horseface! I even tried to be nice for your sake!” He looks even more angry. Oops, my bad. I shouldn’t have said that. “what did you just call me? I do not look like a horse! “Have you seen yourself in the mirror? Actually, comparing you to a horse is an offence to horses!”You asked for it Yeager!” We start fighting. Not even a day in and I’m already going to be labelled a troublemaker thanks to him. Reiner and Mikasa quickly intervene to break us apart. What the actual fuck is this guy’s problem. We quickly sit down again further away from each other. I sit down next to Reiner and he’s quick to Start a conversation. “It hasn’t even been a day and you’re already involved in problems. Looks like it’s going to be an interesting year.” Reiner laughs and slams on my back. I lose my breath for a second there. Man this guy is strong. I look around the cafeteria to make sure we didn’t cause too much of a commotion, but most people are just minding their own business. The cafeteria in this school is actually pretty big. It’s also extremely packed with students everywhere and is in no way close to quiet. Probably why no one noticed us. I notice someone looking in our direction. It actually feels more like he’s staring directly towards me. He has a cold and intense stare and his hair is raven black in colour From this distance he actually appears kind of good looking despite the menacing look in his eyes. He’s sitting alone all the way on the other side of the cafeteria. He’s still looking towards us with his arms crossed. “Hey Reiner, do you know who that is? I tried to discretely point my face towards the direction of the raven haired man that was still starring at us. “Oh him? Yeah, that’s Levi. He’s the janitor here.” “Wait, Janitor?? Thought he was a student” “You’re probably just seeing things Yeager, heard he’s actually pretty old. Maybe he’s just too far away for you to notice. I heard from other students that he likes to keep to himself and never talks to others. Seems like a weird guy if you ask me. We should probably just avoid him too.”“He’s staring at us though”“You probably caught his attention with the fighting. You also kind of added to his job when you knocked over all the food.”“shit you’re right, probably best to avoid him then. He looks angry.” I take on last look and see that he’s still staring and quickly turn towards the others. I still feel a gaze directed towards me, but ignore it and try to focus on getting to know the guys at our table. I quickly forget the weird janitor, and before I know it, lunch break is over and we all return to our classroom to continue the day.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
I’m sitting in math class trying to do the task Hange gave us. Fuck I should have actually listened to her explain this instead of elaborately trying to hide my texting with the guys in class. In my defence, even if I wasn’t texting I would have done something else to distract myself. Can’t believe it’s already been a month since we’ve started. We’re currently going through algebra. I struggled with math when it was just numbers and now they want to mix letters in there as well? I look to my right where Marco sits and see he’s almost finished with the Assignment.“Hey Marco, mind explaining this to me? Didn’t understand it when Hange explained it”“Of course! Just let me finish the one I’m currently on!”Marco is seriously too nice. He was finishing up his current problem before giving me his full attention. “So, what is it that you don’t understand”“I don’t get any of this. Like what is this number and how do I even start solving this. I seriously have no clue.” Marco started to carefully explain it to me in a simple enough way that even I had to understand. By the end, I could actually say I understood it. “Do you get it now? It’s easy once you get the hang of it, and all the other problems are easier to solve as well because you just have to follow the steps.” “Yeah, thanks a lot! How do you explain it so easy? Have you ever considered becoming a teacher?”“That’s actually what I’m aiming to become. School takes a big part in shaping the students to become who they are when they grown up. I want to contribute and help so that they end up having the best future possible!”“That’s actually really admirable of you Marco.” Not only is he nice, but he’s thinking so far ahead. Maybe I should have a plan on what I want to do with my life. Up until now I’ve only though about being there for mom and Mikasa. Although, they ended up taking care of me more than the other way around. I’m still only 16 though, so I have a couple more years before having to figure that one out. The bell rings signalling that the class was over. “Okey class, do the problems that you didn’t finish at home and bring it with you for next class so that we can go through them!” Thanks to Marco, that probably won’t be the biggest problem for once. I head down to the cafeteria and sit with the same group of people as I have done since the first day of school. I sat myself down between Reiner and Armin. I take out the lunch Mikasa made for us and start eating. “Hey guys, party at my place on Friday? My folks aren’t home this weekend” I look up at Reiner and see that he looks excited. “Ooh, that sounds like fun! Is there going to be food?” I turn towards Sasha and see her inhaling her food again. Only Sasha would have that as her first question.“Food is the only thing you think about Sasha…” Connie comments which made Reiner laugh loudly and smack his hand on my back. I should really start to avoid sitting next to him if I still want to breathe properly. “Sure Sasha, there’ll be some snacks and I’ll even provide a keg of beer and what not my folks have lying around in the house“Reiner!” Bertolt comments with a shocked expression.“HAHA! Don’t worry Bert, it’s all just fun. We have to live a little. So what will it be guys? Are you joining Krista?” he sends her a wink. I’ve noticed that he has a thing for her. Too bad Ymir already put her claim on Krista. “Yeah, that sounds like fun, but we have to be careful with the drinking! I don’t want anyone to feel pressured or become sick” Krista replies. That’s Krista. Always thinks about other people. “If my angel Krista is going, then I’ll join too.” Ymir says while almost crushing a smiling Krista in a bear hug. “Did I hear party? Heck yeah I’m coming!” Jean shouts excitedly “I’ll even get my hand on some booze just for you guys “Nobody needs your bad booze Jean” I say, just to piss him off a bit.“Fuck you Yeager! It’s good quality because it’s my parents’! besides, none of it’s for you!” I’m not worried about that. To be honest drinking has never been on my mind. Never had the taste of alcohol, and never even been to a party.“Guys calm down! We don’t need to hear another one of you arguments.” Reiner says to put us at rest. “so everyone’s joining right?” Everyone’s nodding their heads. Even Mikasa and Armin. “I’ll go wherever you go Eren. If not, who else would keep you safe.” She says bluntly“Mikasa! We’ve talked about this! I don’t need you looking out for me all the time!”“Look at you Yeager, needing a baby sitter even at a party.” Jean exclaims with a smug face.“Shut up Jean. You’re the one that needs a sitter with a horseface like that!” Fuck him, always trying to annoy me. His face looks angry and he stands up abruptly.“That’s it Yeager!” He shouts. Reiner also stands up. I suddenly feel extremely small next to him. He look pretty intimidating and his face just looks angry. He points towards me and Jean.“Shut up and sit back down now! Can’t you not argue for even five minutes? What is this, kindergarten?” “He started it” I claim. Jean makes a face like he wants to say something, but the look Reiner gives him makes him shut up and sit back down.“Great, now that that’s handled, I’ll text you guys the address. Be at my place around 8 on Friday. Annie you’ll also joint right?” I almost forgot Annie was with us. She’s just too quiet. Her nod is so small that you can barely see it. “Good, can’t wait!” The bell rings after that and I quickly gather my stuff and go to throw away the coffee can I bought. Don’t want to piss of the janitor again. Speaking of said janitor. I feel the presence of someone behind me and quickly turn around. There in front of me, and a bit too close for my comfort, stands said janitor. I jump a bit back and fall on my ass. My eyes are closed as I groan in pain. I try to rub my butt to ease the pain a bit. I slowly open my eyes and look up to see that he’s looking down on me with a stoic expression. He extends a hand towards me and I grab it. His hand is kind of small and very cold to the touch. I hold it for a while in surprise of the feel of it. My face probably looks like I’m shocked. He suddenly yanks me up so that I’m standing up on my feet again, and I start to brush of any dust or dirt that may have collected on my clothes. Now that I’m standing upright, I take a closer look at him. He is standing in front of me with his arms crossed, looking annoyed. He still has that menacing stare in his eyes. What surprised me first was how short he actually is, but his looks actually make up for it. This man was actually gorgeous. Maybe not in the ideal way, but his smooth pale skin, silver eyes and raven black hair all made him look breathtaking. I also noticed he has some dark circles under his eyes, probably from the lack of sleep. Why did Reiner think this guy was old? He didn’t look a day older than 25. I was probably staring at him in awe for too long as he actually spoke up.“You threw the trash in the wrong bin. We have three different ones for a reason.” “Huh?” I didn’t catch what he said at first as I was shocked by his smooth velvety voice, but I quickly regained myself and looked at the signs on the bins. “Oh.. sorry sir! That won’t happen again!”“It better not brat” he replied while uncrossing his arms and walking away. I was left standing there confused about what just happened. I felt a pat on my shoulder and quickly turned around. “What did that midget want?” Mikasa asked“Midget? Really? He just told me I was throwing my trash in the wrong bin.” Mikasa seemed to accept the answer and we started to walk towards class. I didn’t tell her about what I felt. Heck, I was confused myself. Did I actually think a guy was hot? I have never thought about the possibility of me liking guys, but maybe that explains why I’m not interested in any girls. I hold that thought as we step into the classroom. English was next on our schedule and I couldn’t wait for it to be finished. Class passed by quick and as usual, I couldn’t focus in class. Only now, my mind was occupied by a certain raven haired guy. *“Hey Armin, do you want to come to my place to study?” We were walking back home from school. I didn’t have any motivation to start studying at all, but having Armin with me usually helped.“Sure Eren, I just have to text my grandpa and let him know.” He pulls out his phone and types a quick texts to his grandpa. “But, you have to actually promise to stay focused all the time!” He looks at me seriously while holding off on sending the text. “Yeah, Promise!” he smiles and hits send and we continue walking. “Eren, you have to start taking school seriously, and stop causing so much commotion. It’s not going to end good for you.” I turn to my face to look at Mikasa. I can see it in her face that she’s worried about me.“I’m trying my best! Besides, Jean’s the one who’s making me cause a commotion in the first place. I seriously don’t know what his problem is!”“You shouldn’t let him get to you like that, Eren” Mikasa replies“Maybe he likes you” I look at Armin. Nothing about his expression implies that he’s kidding “What?! No way…! Think you read too much into things Armin! He even told me likes Mikasa the first day of school!” Mikasa had her usual expression on and Armin looked more intrigued.“Did he, really?”“Well, not in so many words, but I got what he was implying!” I remember it, the first day when he looked all flustered and looked at Mikasa. Or did he actually look at Mikasa? Maybe he never said he actually liked her? Its’d been too long, can’t possibly remember all the details. Maybe he thought I rejected him or something. Maybe I’ve actually been his problem all along. Or maybe, I’m just reading too much into it. My face must look really confused at this point. Armin even has a smug smile on his face“You should think about it, Eren.”“Yeah, right! I’m not even gay, so why should I bother.” I said that, but in actuality, I don’t know what to think anymore. Who knew I would be so confused of who I am so early on in high school. We arrive at my house, and Armin as usually, got right down to business. He went into the living room and sat down at the table, Mikasa right behind him. They both pulled out their books and started doing the homework assignment. I made a face to show my complaints, but sat down next to them and pulled out my books from my bag. I tried to focus but my mind was mostly occupied by the events of today. At least I had the party on Friday to look forward to. *“Armin, this is so boring. I seriously think it’s draining my life energy!” I drop my face on the books lying on the table. “Stop exaggerating Eren. You promised you would concentrate.” “For your information, I’m almost done. Can we order some food after this? I’m starving.” I raise my head again.“Carla left us some money to order food. She told me she would be late again and didn’t have time to prepare us dinner the day before” Mikasa says wile writing her assignment. “Thank god for mom, always two steps ahead.” I continue on with my homework. I only have a few more problems so I try to finish them quick. After another hour of studying, we order food and put on a movie to watch. This is how I usually spend a day with Mikasa and Armin. We have a big love for horror movies. The bad ones are almost more enjoyable, because we can laugh at them more. Armin leaves after the movie finishes and I head up into my bedroom. It’s still messy, but I have no energy to deal with it. I grab a towel and head in to the bathroom to take a quick shower. After scrubbing myself clean and washing my hair, I step out. The bathroom is filled with steam and the mirror has gotten foggy. I wipe it with my hand and stare at my reflection in the mirror. The events of today are still on my mind and I’m beginning to wonder if it is possible that I’m actually attracted to guys. I start to think back to the janitor. His gorgeous eyes, sharp check bones, broad shoulders. He probably even hides a six pack under that tight black shirt he was wearing. I’m starting to blush while imagining it, and I can see that my cheeks are starting to get red in the mirror. I quickly leave the bathroom and head in to my room to get dressed. I only bother to put on boxers and sweat pants. I grab my drawing block and a pencil and sit down on my bed. I start to draw something. I don’t know what I’m drawing and I loose myself into it. After awhile I realise that I’m beginning to draw a person that looks embarrassingly like the janitor. I look at it for a while. He really is good looking. I sigh and put down the drawing block. I lie on my bed and try to think of something else. It’s getting pretty late and I’m actually more tired than I imagined so it doesn’t come as a surprise when I fall asleep. *The days passed and it was Friday already. School was over and me and Mikasa were getting ready to head out. “Eren, please don’t do anything stupid tonight.” She’s standing in my bedroom, all ready to head out, and I can see that her expression shows that she’s worried. “Don’t worry, I just want to enjoy myself. Maybe try some new things, but I won’t let it get too overboard” I’m trying to fix my hair, but it really has a mind of it’s own. I don’t think it will look better that it does so I leave it and we head downstairs. Mom is still at work, but we told her we were heading out to Reiner’s and for her to not wait up. She told us to just enjoy ourselves, but not get in to any trouble. I took my phone out of my pocket and saw that we were going to be a bit late. Luckily, Reiner didn’t live that far away and we could just walk there in 15 minutes. We headed out after putting on our shoes and coats. Armin was waiting for us outside. He waved at us with a smile as we stepped outside the door. “Hey Armin, did you wait long?” We walked towards where he’s standing“No, Just got here” He replied. “You look nice Mikasa!” She was wearing a black dress, which is so unlike her since she usually never wears dresses. “Thanks, Armin” She answers, but its muffled out because of the scarf covering her face. “Don’t you think I look nice Armin?” I show off my outfit. I’m wearing tight, faded black jeans with holes in it and a white t-shirt. I’ve never been the one to try and dress up. Simple works a long way. He laughs a bit at me while nodding his head. “sure Eren, you look great too.” He answersWe start walking and eventually reach Reiner’s house. I can hear the music and shouting from outside. There are people everywhere. Guess Reiner invited a bunch of people. We step inside and are greeted by him. “Hey! You made it!” He’s holding a beer and Bertolt is right behind him. “Yeah, nice place you got here. It’s kinda hard to see though with all the people” we’re standing in the living room and there are people everywhere. The music is loud, people are drinking and dancing. Some are just talking like us and others need to probably find a room soon. Almost everyone is wasted. It’s a good thing Reiner’s house is a bit further away from other houses. “Who doesn’t like a good party? Drinks are in the kitchen so grab some and enjoy yourselves.” We head into the kitchen. It’s a bit difficult to get some drinks as there are people everywhere and I have to actually shove some people away for them to move.“Eren, are you really drinking?” Mikasa looks at me disapprovingly as I pour myself some beer.“Yeah aren’t you guys?” Both of them are shaking their heads. Guess I shouldn’t be surprised. “I’m allowed to do what I want. Don’t worry guys, I won’t drink too much” Both still have a disapproving look on their faces but it’s quickly forgotten as I take a sip. The taste is foreign and a bit weird, but it’s not horrible. I drink some more from it and we leave the kitchen. It looks like they’re playing a game in the living room. I spot the guys from our class. “Hey you guys! you should join us! We’re playing truth or dare!” Krista shouts as she waves towards us. We sit down in the circle they formed and join them. “My turn!” Connie seems excited. He rubs his hands together and has a devilish smile as he looks for his next victim “Sasha, truth or dare”“Hmm…, dare!” “You can’t eat any food for the rest of the night, only drink!” Sasha look horrified as she hears what Connie’s dare is“NOOOOO, please spare me!!” She’s actually down on her knees begging him to let her eat. “Either that or take two shots of pure vodka!” “I take the shots!!” He pours two shots for her, and she happily drinks both. I wonder how far she would actually go for food. Probably far and beyond with the way she’s munching the chips from the bowl she grabbed. Better hope the shots aren’t going to make her vomit all the food she’s eaten. We continued playing for a while. Everyone seemed to enjoy the party and I was having a lot of fun. I drank the beer up and went to get another one. I felt lightly buzzed by now. We continued playing and It was Armin’s turn to ask.“Jean, truth or dear”“Truth!” Jean shouts. Out of al of us, he’s probably the one who is most drunk. I guess it’s easy to get stuff out of him this way. I look over at Armin and he’s giving me a look which I can’t fully understand.“Out of the popular celebrity couple of Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, who would you rather sleep with?” He looks too smug as he asks that. He looks over at me and he’s face is practically shouting out “I’ll show you I was right.” I have to say though, I’m curious myself to know the truth. Jean stands up. He almost falls back down again. He’s just too drunk if he can’t even stand up properly.“Ryan Reynolds ALL THE WAY! He’s just everyone’s wet dream. Am I right or am I right?!” He shouts out to everyone and falls back down on the ground. After that I think everyone silently agrees the game is over. Someone helps him to the couch where he falls asleep with his bottle of wine tucked snuggly between his arms. Armin comes up to me and looks at me, still wearing that smug smile. “I told you I was right.” “This doesn’t prove anything. He could have said he would sleep with a horse when he’s that drunk” I know I said this but maybe Armin has a point. “And so what if he’s gay. It’s not like it matters so much.” Armin looks a bit apologetically. “Yeah, of course. I just got ahead of myself and only though of proving you wrong.” I grab around his shoulder and press him against me. “Hey, it’s all fun and games. Don’t look like that! Let’s just enjoy the rest of the night.” I release him and see that he’s smiling again. “Yeah let’s!”We stayed there for a couple of more hours before going home. I only drank those two beers, trying to hold up to the promise of not going overboard. Mikasa looked a bit bored throughout the night. I think she really only came to make sure I was behaving. At least it looked like Armin was having fun. We got to my house and said our goodbyes to Armin. As soon as I got inside, I said goodnight to Mikasa and headed up into my room. I couldn’t bother taking a shower at this point, so I just undressed down to my boxers and crawled in bed. The party was still fresh in my mind. I enjoyed myself a lot, but I was really curious about this new information concerning Jean. I made myself comfortable in bed and as soon as I shut my eyes, I was fast asleep. *It was now Monday and the day progressed as normal. That is until we had lunch break and Jean approached me. We were standing in the hall, close to our lockers. The halls were filled with students as usual. “Hey Eren, can we talk?” He actually just wanted to talk, that was at least new. He looked almost unsure in how he was acting. There was barely even any eye contact. “Yeah sure, go ahead and talk.”“Not here, too many people.” He started looking around “Don’t think there’s anywhere at this school that doesn’t have many people.” It looks like he spotted someplace. I look in the direction he’s face is directed towards. It’s not a classroom or a bathroom. Maybe a storage room then. “Follow me” He starts walking and before entering looks around to see if anyone is looking at us. The room is a bit secluded and it’s at the end of the hall. The lockers almost hide it. We enter and it’s completely dark inside. I can’t even find a light switch. Jean finds it and turns the light on. The light is dim, but enough to see at least. Before I can look around, Jean grabs my attention. “Look. I know we fight a lot and it’s probably my fault. But to be honest, you were kind of a jerk.” Jean looks really serious. He’s inching a bit closer and I take a step back. “If you’re talking about my misunderstanding, then I’m sorry. But just to be completely sure, you’re into guys, right..?” I tried to ask as smoothly as possible, but asking a dude you haven’t known for long if he’s gay when you’re trapped somewhere together while’s he’s kind of inching closer, is not easy. “Yeah, I wanted to ask you if you were singly, so you telling me off and saying I didn’t stand a chance was a dick move.” He looks really hurt. He’s not even looking towards me but on the ground. Knowing Jean, he probably would do something as stupid as ask a person he just met if they were single or not. Especially if he was interested. “Hey man, I’m sorry. Thought It was Mikasa you were talking about. And I don’t care if you’re gay. No judgement at all.” He lifts his head up and I can actually see a faint smile. “So are we good now? No more fighting?” “Sure…” He looks like he’s contemplating something. He’s inching closer again and I don’t have any more room to move back. He’s way past personal space at this point, and he’s staring directly into my eyes “Hey Eren, now that you know it wasn’t Mikasa I was talking about, what do you say…?” he moves his face closer.“I…” his face is right in front of mine at this point. Lips almost touching. Even if there’s a chance that I’m gay, Jean is not the guy I want to give my first kiss to. I’m panicking inside. For some reason I’m not able to move. I’m just standing there, frozen in my place.Suddenly, the door is yanked open. We both stare at who opened the door. To my horrified surprise, it’s the janitor. I realize then that we’re in the janitor’s closet and he looks seriously pissed.