Always and Forever.

Chapter Nine Part One: It's been a while

"You guys seen this!" Connie says. He throws a newspaper between Mikasa, Sasha and Armin before grabbing a chair for himself. "Another apparent sighting of him. The third this year."

"No way! I've heard the police are struggling to gather anything on him. Probably because he covers his face." Sasha adds. She fills her mouth full of fries but that doesn't stop her talking. "Mikasa, your dad told you anything bout this?" Sasha asks the raven-haired girl through her mouthful mumble. Unfortunately, Mikasa is distracted. Simply staring at her phone.

"Relax. He will get here." Armin says without loosening his gaze from his book.

"How can you be so sure?" Mikasa finally speaks up. It was normal for her to suddenly go quite so her friends didn't read too far into it.

"You know someone for as long as I've known him and you learn a few things about them."

Connie leans towards Sasha. "I bet she is talking about him," he whispers to her.

"Who else?" The two of them start to giggle drawing the attention of the other two. Mikasa throws the trademark Ackerman glare at them and their giggles catch in their throats as they hold their breath.

"I can't be the only one worried." Mikasa starts to speak.

"Five"

"I mean, he suddenly becomes distant,"

"Four"

"Always looks tired and lost."

"Three"

"He isn't eating properly at school and-"

"Two"

"Armin! Why are you counting so loud?" Mikasa shouts.

"One." Armin points towards the door before turning the page of his book. Going straight back to reading it.

"What in the world?" Mikasa grumbles quietly.

"Zero," Armin says through a smug smile. The door slams open and through it emerges a scruffy Eren Yeager. His shirt untucked and his blazer crinkled like he had a fight with it to show it who's boss...and lost. His hair is messy but not far off its natural state. His tie is around his neck in its raw loose form.

"Sorry-I'm late-Mr Ackerman." Eren pants out. He takes a big gulp of fresh air quenching his lungs of their thirst.

"He's not here, dumbass!" a student shouts at Eren and his small group of friends start to laugh. Eren looks towards the teacher's desk and, just like the guy said, Levi is nowhere to be seen.

"Oh," Eren says. He gingerly makes his way to his seat at the back of the room while attempting, and struggling I might add, to do his tie. Mid knot, a piece of paper hits his head. And another. And another. "Grr fuck off!" Eren snaps. However, he realises the source of the annoying projectiles is Mikasa and controls his temper (for once). Eren also spots a reading Armin cash in some extra money from Sasha and Connie much to their disappointment. Then, a sudden realisation hits Eren. He continues to make his way towards his window seat which is just behind where everyone else is sat.

"Okay Yeager, It's easy. Just apologise to her. You're a busy guy so she will understand. All you have to do is get her attention."

"Who you talking to?" Mikasa asks him interrupting his pep talk.

"Jesus Mikasa!" Eren recoils and flails but Mikasa does not flinch. "Don't sneak up on a guy like that." Mikasa apologises to him and silence falls between them. An eternity passes before Eren decides to break the ice, letting out a deep breath.

"Hey Mika, sorry for bailing this morning. Revising for midterms has my sleep schedule completely out of whack." Eren felt bad about lying to her. His sleep schedule is in the gutter but not because of revision. Mikasa shushes him with some bread and grabs his sorry excuse for a tie.

"It's fine. My dad dropped me off. And, if you're struggling with revision, maybe I could help...Or you know, Armin." She chuckles nervously and mentally curses herself for saying something so stupid. "There. Done." Mikasa says. She has tied Eren's tie into an immaculate Windsor knot.

"Thanks." Wolf whistles sound from Sasha and Connie's direction prompting Eren and Mikasa to throw cold daggers at them. The whistling quickly stopped and the mischief-makers are now doing their best turtle impressions.

Armin attempts to change the subject, throwing the newspaper at Eren. Eren grumbles about what he will do to the next person who throws something at him. The gang wave it away (as they do with most of what Eren says) as an empty threat. Armin points out the story they were looking at before Eren's arrival to him. He pretends to go back to reading but from the corner of his eye, using the book to look inconspicuous, he watches Eren's every move and reaction.

Eren analyses the page quickly, trying to make a mental note of all the important details. Dates, locations and reports, all fighting for space in his Hippocampus. "What's this all about?" he asks.

"Hard to say. There isn't a whole lot of information on it. I heard a rumour it's linked to some 'Titan serum' and the Reiss family." Armin replies. Eren cant help the widening of his eyes when the Titan Serum was mentioned but swiftly shakes away his expression.

"Sorry. Never heard of it." He passes the newspaper back to Armin.

"But-" Mikasa is interrupted by the scraping sound of Eren's chair as he pushes it back giving him space to stand.

"I'm gonna head to the loo. I'll catch you guys later." Eren says. He grabs his stuff and leaves the room. Mikasa slumps into her chair, Connie and Sasha start to discuss the latest video game news and Armin continues to read his book. A wide smile on his face.

The bell that signals the end of homeroom and the start of lessons soon rings and the students get up and start to leave the classroom. The gang gather their things and exit the room where they run into Eren again, much to their surprise. He is leaning against the homeroom wall scribbling something down in a green notebook. Eren turns his gaze upwards and spots the others. He quickly bags the small notebook and makes his way towards them. They know he said he would see them later but this was earlier than any of them would have guessed.

"Hey guys," Eren says. He slings his bag over his shoulder and takes his spot amongst them. "Ready for class?"

"I thought you were going to the bathroom?" Sasha says.

"Bro, I hope you washed your hands," Connie adds.

"What? Yes, I washed my hands. Can we go now?"

Armin knew something was up. For starters, it would be next to impossible to get from here to the boys' toilets and back in such a short time. Eren must have lied but why? Armin has an idea but he hasn't got enough proof to suggest anything. "Eren's right. We don't want to be late for English. Mr Smith will have our guts and no one will enjoy that more than Mr Ackerman.