Chapter One

Armin POV

"Guys! It's like you're not even trying to study anymore!" Armin whined jokingly as his friends dissolved into fits of giggles and chuckles over Eren Jaeger's impersonation of Mikasa's mooning over the senior, Levi. Armin tried to keep his face serious, but even he couldn't help but laugh as well, as he looked at the face of his best friend of ten years.

"Who cares about studying when Mikasa's in love with Levi?" Ymir laughed.

"All of you shut up. I'm not in love with him." Mikasa snapped back, though her beat red face betrayed her.

"Are you sure you're Mikasa Ackerman?" Jean Kirstein asked. "Because our Mikasa never gets this worked up over something like this."

Armin had to admit that it was strange to see Mikasa's typically neutral face so emotional about something. Usually, the only time her face left it's cool, almost uncaring base was when he and Eren were in some kind of trouble, and she had to go rescue them. These occurrences were surprisingly often given Eren's temper and Armin's strong ideology.

Mikasa had crossed her arms and sat back in her chair on the Jaegers' patio. "Aren't we supposed to be studying? We DO have a math test tomorrow."

"Awwwe, stop sounding like Armin as a defensive technique." Ymir teased.

"Now, now, Ymir. Be nice. Armin didn't do anything." Christa Reiss giggled, snuggling up against Ymir. The whole group knew that Ymir never would have joined their 'study group' if it wasn't for Christa. Ymir wasn't the most social of people, and on top of that, a former member of the most secular group in their school, the Titans. The Titans avoided pretty much everyone outside of their group, although they kept trying to recruit Eren to join them, only to be turned down every time. However, most people considered Christa to be an other worldly being, and were not surprised that she was the one to pull Ymir into broader society.

"Yeah. Don't drag poor Armin into this. He doesn't deserve such an awful thing as to be compared to Mikasa." Jean stated bluntly.

Armin ducked his head, his face flushing slightly. It was well known that Jean had had a crush on Armin. Some part of him probably still did, even though he'd been dating his boyfriend, Marco Bott for almost a year now. Marco was not at today's study session, as he was spending the day with his family. The other missing member of their group was Connie Springer, who hadn't been to a study session in two months, ever since he had started his job at the convenience store. Looking around the circular patio table, Armin realized there was another missing person. "Where did Sasha go?"

"Wha- She was just here." Christa said, sitting up straight and looking at the empty seat to her left.

Eren leapt to his feet. "OOOOOOOIIIII! Get out of my kitchen, you fiend!" He yelled, running into the house through the open screen door, Mikasa on his heels.

"Oh. I cannot miss this." Jean said, straightening up.

"Me either." said Ymir, extending her hand to Christa. All three of them disappeared inside the house.

Armin remained out on the patio, staring down at the papers everyone had abandoned. Rising to his feet, the 15 year old began to gather them up. He knew Eren, and he would probably end up kicking everyone out of the house for Sasha Blouse's crime of raiding the cabinents. This was quite a common occurrence, after all.

After gathering up the papers, he quickly collected all the glasses and set them on the tray he had carried them out on, and headed into the kitchen. He peered through the doorway from the kitchen to the living room in time to see Eren chucking pillows at Sasha as she dived around furniture.

"Eren. You're going to break something." Mikasa scolded, diving to grab Eren's arm.

Armin shook his head and turned to the sink, setting the tray of glasses down. He never heard her until she began speaking.

"You look sad again, Armin." He turned and looked at tiny Christa, who was leaning against the kitchen table.

"Do I?"

"You do. Not your whole face, but your eyes. Like you feel out of place with your friends."

"How'd you get to know me so well, Christa?"

"Peer counseling. Let me see your arm." She said softly.

"I haven't added to it. But I can show you later, if you're so insistent. I don't want them…" He nodded his head towards the group in the living room, that had dissolved into an all out free for all between Mikasa, Ymir, Eren, and Jean with Sasha hiding behind whoever and wherever she could. "I don't want them to worry. It's bad enough with just you."

"Alright. But Armin…" She sighed. "Whether you believe it or not you DO deserve to be happy."

"Everyone thought I could be happy with you." Armin said quietly, not sure if Christa was aware of the whisperings of the group from before Ymir joined.

"Did you?" It was clear to Armin that Christa only cared whether or not she had inadvertently hurt him.

"Not really. But it doesn't matter. You've found your happiness with Ymir."

Christa sighed slightly. "You need to find your happiness too."

Armin smirked lightly. "Weren't you the one who told me that I don't need another person to be happy?"

"Don't deflect."

Before Armin could respond, the situation in the living room reached the boiling point, presumably because Eren was losing. "That's it!" He roared. "All of you get out of my house!"

"And there it is." Armin grinned.

"Took longer than usual." Christa grinned back.

"That's not how you treat guests!" Ymir yelled from the living room, followed by a smacking sound and a yelp from Eren. Armin assumed that Ymir had smacked him.

"OW! You're no guest of mine, devil woman! I didn't invite you here!"

Armin moved to the doorway in time to see Mikasa step between Eren and Ymir, tensions running high.

"Hey, what's Armin doing alone in the kitchen with Christa?" Eren blurted out.

Armin had never seen Ymir turn so fast. "What?" She said, her voice menacing in her jealousy. Armin retreated several steps.

"We're not-" Christa began.

"They're not alone in here." Sasha said, pushing past them, a bag of potato chips in her hands.

"How did you get IN there!" Eren howled. "Get out of my house, you fiend!" He ran at her, though she quickly dodged and bolted for the door. "And give me my chips back!"

Ymir ran after them to watch, and Mikasa ro keep him from hurting himself. While Jean gathered up his things, Christa turned to Armin, placing a hand on his cheek. "We'll talk later."

Armin nodded as she walked off to get both her own and Ymir's belongings. "Okay." He saw Jean looking at him quizzically. "Tell you later." He said quietly. Jean nodded his head and left. Armin shook his head and sighed, sinking into a chair. Eren and Mikasa were his best friends. So why did it feel so much easier to share these personal things with Jean and Christa?