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Chapter Text

Ymir reached up and unconsciously twirled a white curl around her finger while she watched her cousin twirl around the dance floor. she envied her cousin and her fantasy relationship. all hers had gone to shit. but despite that she was still happy for Jen.

The dance ended and Ymir straightened out her blue jeweled cocktail dress and smiled at the newlywed couple as they came off the floor, allowing the DJ to start up more upbeat music and other guests to take the floor.

It was at that moment that her phone began to ring. She opened her clutch and checked her phone. Her best friend’s name was showing up and she answered the phone.

“I don’t have too long-”

“Drew dumped me.” came her best friend’s sob. Ymir’s nostrils flared.

“I’ll be right there. Just hang in there sweetie.”

“Okay.” they hung up and she dashed over to cousin, apologized for leaving so soon, and dashed out of the wedding hall.

The apartments for the Trost University students were barely two miles from the venue so she saw no reason to rent a cab.

She made quite a sight. An young woman in formal dress and four inch heels running down the street. Her pins fell out leaving her ombré hair to bounce around her hair in what no doubt would be a knotted mess in an hour.

She sprinted up the stairs once she reached the building and skidded to a stop in front of their room. She took a deep breath and opened the door to find her roommate curled up in the arm chair.

“Where's the bastard?” She asked, marching over to Armin's side. “I'll whoop his ass to Jupiter.” Armin wiped his eyes on his sleeve and took a shaky breath.

“I don't know. He called me from a car.” She wrapped her arms around him.

“Did he say why?” She asked.

“He said he was tired of me.” Armin said, his voice breaking.

“Then that asshole better not be going home. I'll sic my brother on him.” She said. Armin laughed a bit and leaned into her. Drew had been his boyfriend all through high school. Ymir had never liked him but put up with him for Armin’s sake.

“You know what, you're better off. He was stuck in high school while you were moving on. We’ll find you someone else that's sweeter and doesn't wear flannel every day.” She said. He laughed again and wrapped an arm around her waist.

However, two weeks later he was still in a slump. Ymir had to drag him around to their design classes and he wasn't putting in as much effort as he normally did.

One of her photography classes took her to the art building, where there was a board advertising for various jobs that the students couldn't do themselves.

She checked it after class, desperate to find something that would get him out of the apartment and cheer him up.

Among the fliers was one that advertised the need for a clothed male live model. She took off the tab for his number and texted it saying her friend wanted to take the job.

“Why did you do that?” Armin demanded when she told him later that evening. “This person could be a huge creep!” Ymir rolled her eyes.

“First off, if they were a creep then they would be advertising for a nude live model.” she pointed out. “Second, I’ll go with you and if they look creepy then I’ll either stay or take you home. You just need to get out of the house. Drew is totally not worth mourning and I’m not going to let you kill your social life over him.” Armin turned red.

“Fine. But I’m not staying out if I don’t like them.” Armin muttered. “By the way, is it a dude or a chick?” Ymir shrugged.

“The name was Eren and there are so many ways to spell the name that you never know anymore. I guess we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”

The next morning they walked to the art building which- as per usual during midterms- smelled of fear and energy drinks and was filled with students that dressed like they were living during a zombie apocalypse.

As two fashion majors it kind of scared Ymir and Armin to see so many fashionably challenged students. Yet at the same time they marvelled at their passion for dressing badly. Trost University was a high quality school and all of the kids in the art program were being put through by parents that could afford to dress them well, but didn’t.

They made their way to studio sixteen and opened the door to see two art students. a petite blond in old paint splattered overalls sat on the floor shading a project in her sketchbook, and a young man with shoulder length hair in a loose ponytail was setting up a stool and a chair in front of a grey backdrop.

“Excuse me.” Ymir called into the room.

Both art students looked at them. Ymir was simultaneously disgusted and amazed by the fact that the artists dressed as if they were homeless, but were still super attractive. The girl, who had the face of an angel framed by unbrushed and paint stained blond hair, immediately looked down at her project and continued shading.

The boy, who had sharp, deep green eyes, smiled at them.

“Ymir?”

“Yes.” she said tentatively, taking in jeans so worn that they had formed really nasty looking holes and a faded sweatshirt that was covered in old paint.

“I’m Eren-” Ymir grabbed Armin’s hand and dragged him off.

“What are you doing?” Armin asked as the girl’s laughter leaked under the door.

“He cant dress for shit.”

“You expect him to wear nice things while painting?” Armin asked.

“Nicer than that!”

“Oh come on, he’s hot!” she whipped around.

“When I said someone whose closet had more than denim and flannel I meant a step up as opposed to a step down. And his hair! I could see the split ends from the door!” Armin pouted. And she groaned. “Okay, for a one time fling I guess it wouldn’t matter but you’re always in it for the long haul and that is not what you need to be in it for.” She said, making him blush.

“Well, maybe after the modelling thing I’ll know if he’s only good for a one time thing or if he’s a long time guy. Either way, I have an excuse to stare at his face for a few hours. Give me SOMETHING.” He said. Ymir groaned.

“Fine. But I’m going to kick your butt if you get involved with that.” She warned before dragging him back into the studio.

“Sorry,” she said to a very confused Eren, “I remembered something that I needed to talk to him about.” she said while her eyes drifted over to the girl on the floor.

“I’m sorry but she’s almost as bad as him.” Armin whispered before brushing past her and walking over to Eren. Ymir rolled her eyes and walked away.

The girl was slightly better than Eren, since her clothes were in decent shape outside of the paint stains, but Ymir would never get involved with someone that was so close to fashion hell.

Chapter Text

When Ymir and Eren had texted about Armin modelling for him, he had informed her that he was three pieces behind and needed to keep Armin for a while. So when Armin didn’t show up before she went to bed she wasn’t too surprised.

But when she woke up the next morning and found a zombie from the walking dead helping himself to her coffee she was very surprised. And in her surprise she woke up half of the building.

“Armin!” she shrieked after her inital scream. eren blinked at her as Armin shuffled out of his room.

‘What the heck Ymir?” he asked groggily.

“why is there a fashion train wreck in the apartment?” she managed. Eren frowned at her.

“Why are you talking about me like I don’t exist?”

“He lives in the dorm buildings.” Armin replied sleepily. “I knew you wouldn’t walk in-”

“Oh my god.” she huffed. “I thought we agreed that anyone with a poor sense of fashion wasn’t allowed in the apartment.”

“I’m right here!” Eren called from the kitchen. Armin smiled apologetically at him.

“Wait, are you wearing his shirt?” she asked incredulously, looking at the faded picture of porky pig on the grey backgound.

“Yeah that’s mine.” Eren muttered from the kitchen.

“Oh my god, nonononono.” she said and Armin sighed. “Take that monstrosity off.”

“Does she not realize I’m here?” Eren asked Armin.

“She hasn't had coffee, just give her a cup or two.” Armin said. Eren shrugged and walked into Armin's room.

“Ymir, before you say anything else, I can tell already that he's a better person than Drew.” Armin said. “He's really kind and funny and-”

“He looks like a damn hobo!” Ymir hissed. Armin sighed.

“I wasn't going to say he's perfect. Yet. I'm sure that I'll be able to slowly get him to where he at least cares about his appearance.” Ymir gave him a skeptical look. “I'll just wait until after midterm when he's not so focused on art.”

“I doubt it. But you're more than welcome to try. But the minute he starts being an ass I'm gonna kick the shit out of him wearing my old stilettos.” Armin laughed.

“I honestly doubt that'll happen.”

“Just, promise me you won't do any nude live modeling for him? That would be really embarrassing for you.” Ymir asked, headed towards the coffee pot.

“Nah, he's past that. Apparently he had a hard time finding someone who wouldn't strip down for him.”

Ymir snorted. “What about that one chick. Will she need you to model?”

“Apparently she already got her live modeling out of the way.” Armin replied, walking over to lean on the counter. “Her name’s Krista, by the way.”

“I didn't ask. I wouldn't have cause she looks like a middle schooler.” Ymir snapped.

“Come on. You're totally lying. I saw you eyeing her.” Armin said with a smile. “And she's better than Eren when it comes to dress.”

“Barely.”

“She's gay.” Armin said and Tmir almost poured coffee down her front.

“No shit?”

“No shit. She was asking after you but I can tell her you're not interested.”

“Wait.” She turned around to face him and thought for a moment. “Fine. If nothing else she'll be a project for me.” Armin smiled.

“Okay, I'll tell her you're free.” He said, pushing away from the counter. “I'm going to see if I can get a little more sleep.”

“Wait,” she said. His eyebrows rose while she formulated her words. “I won't complain as much about your hobo, so long as you can get his ass to trim his hair and get rid of the dead ends. They make me want to over condition my hair.” She said with a shudder. Armin laughed.

“Don't worry. That was the first thing on my list.”

Armin went back into his room and closed the door.

“What's her deal?” Eren asked from the foot of the bed.

“She's just really passionate about style.” Armin replied sheepishly.

“So she acts as though I can't hear her?”

“She does that a lot. When she has a beef with someone everything else goes away.”

“If she doesn't like how I dress then why is her beef with you?” Eren asked, draining the cup of coffee.

“Because she's mad at me for wanting to be with you.”

“Would she care if I dressed better.”

“I think it has more to do with the fact that my last boyfriend wore the same outfit everyday with a couple color variations.” Armin said honestly. “And to be fair you do dress like you're homeless.” Eren snorted.

“Whatever. It's comfortable, and you don't seem to have a problem with it”

“Right now my biggest problem is with your hair.”

“The fuck is wrong with my hair?” Eren asked incredulously.

“You have split ends that are two inches long and you haven't even bothered to brush it since you woke up. If you're going to keep your hair long then you need to care for it.” Eren pouted.

“So what?”

“So, either you go get it cut or I'm going to do it for you. And I suck at cutting hair.” Armin informed him. Eren snorted.

“So that's your only condition for dating me?”

“For now. The clothes we’ll work on.” Armin replied.

“Seriously?” Krista asked as Eren helped her move the large easel across the studio. “He wouldn't date you cause you had split ends?”

“Yeah. I thought it was kind of funny.” He admitted.

“What did you say?” She asked.

“I agreed. I figured it wouldn't hurt. It's a low price to date someone that adorable.”

“Wow, really? He had a problem with the way you dress but you're still going to date him?”

“Yeah, why not?”

“He seems to be more concerned about your clothes than you.”

“His roommate is. But not him.” Eren grinned at her. “I bet that was the reason she ran off yesterday.”

“I hate fashion majors.” Krista sighed. “They look down on anyone that doesn't keep up with the latest trends.”

“He doesn't seem to though.”

“Even though your new boyfriend wants to make you dress like him?” Eren raised an eyebrow.

“Since when do you care about my relationships?” He asked. “You never bothered before.”

“Cause you never tried dating a fashion major.” She replied snarkily. Eren laughed again.

“You're still holding a grudge against that one bitch from high school?” She pursed her lips, which was all the response he needed. “It's been four years. I know she was a bit of a twat but that doesn't mean you have to hold it against Armin.” She rolled her eyes and walked over to get her canvas.

“It's the girl I have a problem with.” She replied. “I mean, I saw her two weeks ago and she had purple hair and now she's got some whacky shit going on there. She has a problem with your hair when it's common knowledge that dying your hair fucks it up.”

“Really?” Eren asked, surprised. Krista rolled her eyes and hauled the canvas to the easel.

“I don't know how you managed to not hear that.”

“Cause it's not something I have to worry about.” He reminded her.

“Bet that prissy fashion major would have told you.” Krista grumbled. She turned around to grab her oils and saw the smirk on Eren's face. “What?”

“You think she's hot, don't you?” He asked. “That's why you're getting all riled up.” She felt the blood rush to her cheeks and Eren laughed.

“I can introduce you if you want. I'm sure you’d get along swimmingly.”

“Fuck you.”

Chapter Text

The sounds of scribbling, fingertips tapping on keyboards and pages being turned echoed in the silent library. While it was in-between class hours for some of the students many had taken advantage of the library’s books and wifi to finish their assignments.

Ymir was one of these students. Opting to leave her shared apartment with Armin early to work on a dress design for class as opposed to having breakfast with fashion train wreck/art student Eren Jaeger. Ymir really did not want to watch Armin’s failed attempts at flirting with hurricane disaster.

Covering her mouth to hide a yawn, Ymir reached over to take a quick bite of her cheese danish savoring the sweetness of the danish before washing it down with the slightly bitter taste of her coffee before returning to her work.

The current sketch showed several lines that had been erased and redrawn only to be erased once again. Back and forth Ymir went with ideas for her dress design, but none really held the sort of feeling she was going for. Each design had taken hours or even days to create, but not a single one had made her happy enough to commit to turning it in for her assignment.

Sketch after sketch Ymir would erase to try and see if she could find any sort of idea with the design she had created before switching to a new page entirely. Slowly time passed until it was around twelve in the afternoon and Ymir was in several different realms of design hell.

A catchy tune could be heard from her phone, grabbing it from the depths of her school bag and unlocking it to see that Jean was texting her.

To: Ymir
From: Flannel Disaster (Jean)
Subject: Lunch

Lunch is on me. I’ll be sitting at the usual spot near the duck pond so hurry up before the ducks decide to take your share of food. *duck quacking intensifies*

Ymir promptly started gathering her things and putting them into her bag as neatly as possible before throwing the bag over her shoulder before sending Jean a reply text.

To: Flannel Disaster (Jean)
From: Ymir
Subject: (re:) Lunch

Leaving the library. So keep those damn ducks away from my lunch.

…

“I didn’t know that lunch involved day old Chinese food from your fridge Jean.” Ymir grumbled, while tossing her bag onto the table that Jean had saved for them.

“Day old Chinese food is amazing. So stop your yakking and start eating.” Jean replied with a shrug of his shoulder’s before returning to eating his meal.

Ymir threw a few obscenities at Jean under her breath while he continued eating. Taking the form provided Ymir casually started poking at her chicken lo mein noodles. Twirling them around her fork before taking a bite.

“So what did you bring to drink?” Ymir asked in-between bites prompting Jean to reach into his lunch bag and pull out a can of root beer and a can of sprite.

“I have some water in my backpack if that’s what you're feeling like drinking.” Jean said while reaching over and taking the can of root beer for himself. Leaving Ymir with the choice of sprite or water.

“Well since you just decided to help yourself to my favorite soda, I’ll have a water.” Ymir griped while snatching the water that Jean held out to her.

“Well all’s fair in war when it comes to carbonated based drinks. First come first serve.” Jean replied, taking a drink from his can before setting it down. Ignoring the glare that Ymir was directing at him.

“We were asked to take photographs of the School's Theater Performance today.” Jean continued while a screeching noise could be heard from Ymir.

“Why is this so last minute?? I thought that we already had someone to take pictures for the performance today!” Ymir ran a hand through her hair frustrated.

“Life happens Ymir. It’s not their fault for that, so suck it up and grab your camera the play will be starting soon.” Jean replied while finishing the last of his lo mein noodles and washing them down with a quick swig of his root beer.

Ymir followed suite, grumbling the entire way there.

…

The music for the opening of the show could be heard from the waiting area. The music would reach a high emotional pitch for some sort of fight scene and then mellow out before picking up again with a softer tone.

“Must be the music from some sort of fight scene in the play.” Ymir said, while going through her camera bag.

“It could be the scene where Beast and Gaston are fighting on the roof of the castle,” Jean replied while flipping through the program, “The techs are most likely double checking to see if everything's alright to avoid any bumps during the play.”

“How do you know all of this?” Ymir asked, shooting Jean a look before the other replied with a simple answer to her question.

“I was in Theater for two years in high school. Nothing fancy I was just helped backstage with any costume malfunctions or accidents and moving props onto the stage in-between scenes.” Jean finished flipping through the program for the performance tonight.

Setting it to the side while he picked up his tripod and started making his way towards the ticket booth to purchase two tickets for the performance.

Once inside the theater Ymir and Jean both stuck to the back wall to assemble their cameras. Jean being the one to go upstairs to get pictures while Ymir handled the ones on ground level.

“You know we didn’t really have to pay for those tickets Jean.” Ymir said while making sure that her camera lens did not have any smudges on them.

“It leaves a bad taste in my mouth if I do not buy a ticket. Most of Theater’s profits come from their ticket sells or at least that’s how it worked when I was in high school.” Jean replied while placing everything back into his camera bag.

“Well I’m all set going up top now. Have fun down here Ymir!” Jean sent Ymir off with a smile and a wave. While Ymir flipped him the bird before making her way down towards the stage right as the lights were dimming and the show was starting.

…

The play had reached its climax. Beast’s actor and Gaston’s actor were now doing their fight scene. Ymir couldn’t help, but silently cheer for the student wearing Beast’s costume. Belle’s actress could be heard offstage yelling for Gaston to stop.

The music would pick up and then become like this slow rumbling before picking up once more. This was a fight for his life so the music was only fitting to the situation at hand. Both characters were fighting for their lives.

Ymir snapped a few pictures of the Beast holding Gaston ‘over the ledge’ preparing to drop him before setting him back down onto his feet and telling him to leave. Since the actor could not climb a tower like the actual Beast a tower with a set of winding stairs had been made.

Step by step the Beast slowly made his way up the tower to Belle. The two were so happy to see one another that neither of them noticed that Gaston had appeared behind the Beast. Stabbing him in the back with his knife, wounding the Beast and earning a great and terrifying roar from him.

The two slowly started to fall backwards Belle reached out grabbing the Beast while Gaston fell to his death. Belle wept, blaming herself for the things that Gaston had done while the Beast comforted her telling her that maybe everything was better this way.

A few muffled sobs could be heard from the crowd when Belle denied that this was in no way alright. That everything would be fine, she was back and their days before this moment could resume. The Beast simply caressed her cheek, happy to have seen her one last time before his paw fell limp onto the ground.

The spot light slowly started to dim while Belle’s actress wept over the Beast form. Her hand covering her mouth in attempt to stifle her own tears, using her hands to wipe the tears as they fell away she hid her face in the Beast large furry chest.

“No, no! Please! Please! Please don’t leave me! I love you!” Belle started off yelling, but ended up whispering ‘i love you’ to the Beast in such a sweet voice that the audience started to sob even louder.

Sounds started to fill the theater. Small bits of sparkles started to fall down onto the Beast and Belle. The Beast slowly stood up, his arms moving to wrap the cape around himself while Belle stood a bit off to the side watching the entire scene before her unfold.

The lights were momentarily turned off so you could not see what was happening on stage. After a few moments had passed the lights had slowly started to turn back on, showing that the cape now covered a much tinier form that the Beast larger one.

Belle held a hand to her mouth while the cape slowly slid off of the form to reveal a man with blond hair. Smiling at her he slowly approached her, step by cautious step to not frighten her he said, “Belle… it’s me.”

Bell stood there, not believing the man in front of her until she looked into his eyes. Those clear blue eyes that she remembers so well.

“It’s you!”

The two embrace one another and share a kiss.

…

After a large round of applause and curtain call was over Ymir waited for Jean in the waiting area outside the theater. That’s when she noticed someone walking down the stairs. The woman in question looked absolutely beautiful. Her outfit complimented each article of clothing that she had picked out.

Like an angel she descended. Step after step she gracefully made her way down to the place where mortals dwell. Ymir could have sworn that she heard a choir singing in the background while Ymir slowly made her way towards the woman.

Lost in her daze of wanting to compliment the woman for her beautiful outfit maybe if she had been listening she would have heard Jean yelling a warning to her watch out for the bathroom door that had slung open and hit her in the face.

Ymir fell backwards onto the floor, startled after being hit in the face with the door. Someone cradled her head in their arms.

“Are you alright??”

Ymir opened her eyes and noticed that it was the goddess that she had seen walking down the stairs, but something seemed familiar about her. Squinting her eyes she said.

“Fashion disaster two?? Is that you?”

The girl's cheeks immediately turned into a light dusted shade of pink while the concern in her features were replaced with something familiar to disgust.

“Ugh it’s you.” the girl mumbled, removing her arms from holding Ymir’s head so the back of her head could meet the cold tiled floor once again. Standing up the girl turned her back on Ymir with a small huff and left her laying there on the floor.

“Did I say something wrong?”

Chapter Text

Ymir barged into the apartment, grateful to find that the local hobo had left.

“You're in a mood.” Armin observed.

“DAMN RIGHT I AM!!!” She screeched. “THAT GIRL THAT HANGS OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND HAS A FUCKTON OF POTENTIAL!” Armin's eyebrows rose a few inches.

“You mean Krista?”

“I guess? She had paint in her hair and god awful overalls on last I saw her. But she was at the play and oh my sweet shit she looked like a fucking goddess, Armin. A GODDESS!”

“Okay, first off, chill.” Armin said, putting down his book. “Second, she doesn't like me at all and HATES you.”

“What did I do?” She asked. Armin replied with a shrug.

“I don't know. Eren said you remind her of someone so it may not completely be your fault.”

“Well do you think you could get me to where I can talk to her? She has potential and I want to help her bring it out!”

“And now that you've seen her “potential” you want to date her.”

“More or less.”

“But you get onto me because I see potential in Eren.”

“He has zero potential.”

“Well, you haven't seen him since he got his hair cut. He looks even hotter with the scraggly ends gone.”

“Doubt it. Plus I saw her in a decent outfit! It's totally different from Eren cause you haven't gotten him to wear shit.” Armin rolled his eyes.

“Fine. But she probably won't react well.” Armin informed her. “I'll just invite them over to dinner.”

“Oh god, he's over here too much, just invite her.”

“She doesn't like me, but if Eren comes over she will too. Just suck it up and figure something out for dinner.” Armin said, pulling out his phone.

Eren looked at Armin's text and grinned. “Armin and Ymir are inviting us over.” He laughed. Krista looked up from her canvas long enough to roll her eyes.

“I'm not going. You know she called me a disaster right? There's not a single thing you can say that will convince me to go.”

“Dinner is on them.” He said, waving his phone in the air. Krista pursed her lips. “Should I tell them we're both coming?” He asked, hiding his grin.

“Fine, but I'm not going to wear anything nice.” She replied. “And if Miss Priss doesn't like it she can kiss my ass.”

Eren laughed as he replied. “I'm sure she'll enjoy it. Just do yourself a favor and make sure you're wearing something clean.”

“I might not, just to spite her.” Krista growled.

“Listen, I'm gonna have to deal with the smell too. Please dear god wear something that's clean.”

“Dinner?” Jean asked through a mouthful of pizza. Ymir rolled her eyes.

“Yes, and please don't talk with a full mouth. It's gross.” She looked down at her slice. “It's the only way I can get her to come over.”

“Then why are you inviting me?”

“Because those two are train wrecks and I need someone who can somewhat dress themself in a nice manner.”

“I bought you lunch and you insult my choice of clothing?”

“I'm not hella fond of flannel. It's meant for warmth and the only other person I knew that wore it everyday only owned like three shirts and a red flannel was one of them. At least you own like twenty of different colors.”

“What were the other two?” Jean asked.

“A white tee and a black tee he wore under the flannel.” She said with a shiver. “Made me feel like hurling every time I saw him.”

“How did he keep them clean if that's all he wore?” Jean asked, intrigued. Ymir gave him a pained look.

“He washed them twice a month, can we change the subject now?” She asked. Jean shuddered and nodded.

“So when is dinner?”

“Tonight. I told Armin I was inviting you so we’ll have enough food.” She replied.

“What's he making?”

“Hell if I know.” She replied. “But it’s him cooking so it's going to be delicious.” Jean thought it over before shrugging.

“Sure. I'll just follow you home since I don't have any more classes.”

Armin answered the door when Eren and Krista arrived later that evening. Ymir made a fake gagging motion in Jean’s direction as Eren and Armin kissed in the doorway. Jean laughed as Krista began protesting.

After a moment they were split apart by Krista, who pushed between the two and walked into the main room.

“Please tell me there's food rea- holy shit that's a lot of scones.” She gasped reverently, staring at a few plates of freshly baked pastries that lined the coffee table.

“Yeah, Armin's in the culinary program.” Ymir said from the couch, eyeing the overalls that Krista was wearing. Ones that she was positive that the smaller woman had been wearing the day Armin and Eren had hooked up.

“Oh my god they all look so good.” She said, picking up a cupcake and going to town. Eren rolled his eyes while Ymir, Jean, and Armin watched on wondering how someone so small could inhale a muffin within a moment.

Eren slapped her upside the head and she began coughing due to improperly chewed pieces of muffin falling into her windpipe. “You're being rude.” He informed her before joining Armin in the kitchen.

After a minute of coughin and a glass of water, Krista was able to breathe properly. “Whatever. Sorry dude, but this shit is just awesome.” she informed Armin before digging into a plate of raspberry scones.

“Glad you like them.” Armin replied before turning back to Eren and talking to him about a painting he’d done.

“Well, at least one of you is useful.” Krista said to Ymir, she sat down in an armchair across from Jean.

“What do you mean by that?” Ymir asked, somewhat miffed.

“He can cook. He’s useful.” she indicated Armin with a jerk of her chin. “You’re just a fashion major, there’s nothing that you can offer the world.”

“Um, rude.” Jean snapped. “Ymir is in the photography program too, she’s top in the program.” Krista frowned at looked over at the darker girl.

“I thought you were a fashion major.”

“I am.” Ymir said with a shrug. “But I’m getting a minor in photography. Sometimes it’s hard to get on your feet in the fashion world so I have something I can guarantee will pay the bills until I can get rolling.” Krista huffed.

“Well, I guess you aren’t as much of as airhead as I thought.” she grumbled.

“We’ve talked three times, maybe, why did you think I was an airhead?” she asked.

“She dated a girl in highschool whose world revolved around the latest trends in fashion.” Eren called from the kitchen. “She wasn’t the brightest light on the christmas tree, and I told her not to date the chick, but she did anyway. Now because she refused to listen to me she holds a grudge against anyone that likes to be stylish.” Krista turned bright red.

“So what’s your excuse for not liking fashion majors?” Ymir asked Eren, trying to ignore the slap fight happening between Krista and Jean over the plate filled with various cookies.

“I only have a problem with them when they come up to me out of the blue and start insulting my choice of clothes. And one particular fashion major that keeps calling me a zombie.” he said pointedly. Ymir rolled her eyes.

“Have you seen yourself in the mornings?” she asked. “You’re the half-dressed hobo zombie from hell.” Krista burst out laughing.

“Oh my god, you’re right! I never thought about it that way!” she cackled, allowing Jean to snatch some cookies away from her.

“I don’t look like a zombie in the morning!” Eren insisted.

“Um,” came Armin’s small voice, “No offense but you kinda do.” he said with an apologetic smile. The girls both snorted as Eren gave his boyfriend a look of betrayal.

“Okay, assuming I do actually look like a zombie, what can I do to stop that?”

“Brush your hair.” Armin and Ymir said simultaneously. Eren pouted.

“Okay fine.” he mumbled. Armin smiled brightly at him and Ymir pumped her fist.

“Fucking finally!” she squealed.

Chapter Text

They ate dinner on the couches since, as Ymir dramatically lamented, their apartment was too small for a dining table. Eren and Jean were in the middle of an argument about which Harry Potter movie was closest to the books when someone knocked on the door.

“Coming!” Armin called, lifting himself out of the seat he was sharing with Eren.

“Seriously dude, Azkaban for the win.” Jean said. “The only thing we missed was them actually admitting to being Moony and Padfoot and making the map!”

“Along with a million other things!” Eren countered.

“Hi, do you have some milk I can use?” a small voice asked from the hall.

“Oh, yeah, cause Halfblood prince was so much better!” Jean snapped. The other two girls were watching with intense fascination over how insanely hopeless their friends were.

“Considering the size of the book compared to what they could fit in the movie, yes!” Eren replied as Armin invited in the owner of the voice. “And on top of that it was the one where Harry’s personality was closest to the book.”

“Yeah, well-” Jean’s attention was dragged away by the girl that walked in behind Armin, and his mouth fell open.

“Oh, hey,” Ymir said, noticing their visitor, “You played Belle the other day, you were fantastic!” She said with a smile. “You made me cry so some of my photos came out weird but it was totally worth it.” The girl smiled.

“Thanks, that means a lot. My dad’s been trying to get me to switch majors.” she replied.

“Been there, had that conversation.” Ymir laughed, holding out her hand. “I’m Ymir. Come over anytime and we can talk about parents without a dream.” The girl giggled.

“Will do,” She took Ymir’s hand, “I’m Mikasa. I’m two doors down if you want to visit sometime.”

Jean jumped up, “And I’m Jean, I was another photographer at the play.” Mikasa nodded at him.

“Uh, how much milk did you need?” Armin asked from the kitchen. She turned back to face him.

“Three cups. Two for my recipe and one for breakfast in the morning.” she said with a smile Armin nodded and began to pour.

“You might want to be careful of their milk.” Krista said teasingly. “It’s super fashionable.” Eren snorted while Mikasa gave her a confused look.

“How is milk fashionable?” she inquired.

“I don’t know. But it probably has glitter and little pieces of chiffon in it with.” Krista said with a straight face as Eren began laughing. “And after you ingest it you’ll suddenly know what color is the new black and feel the intense need to spend hundreds of dollars on a wardrobe that you’ll wear until the end of the season and then never wear again” Mikasa looked over to Ymir.

“What’s she talking about?” she asked. “I’m somewhat concerned now.” Ymir shook her head.

“She’s been giving me and Armin shit about being fashion majors.” She said, motioning to Armin, who was coming out of the kitchen. Mikasa nodded.

“Gotcha. One of my friends on the track team makes fun of his little sisters for being super into fashion.” Mikasa said, taking the milk from Armin.

“You wouldn’t happen to be talking about Reiner Braun, would you?” Ymir asked. Mikasa nodded.

“Yeah. Of course, I saw him at swim practice in a leopard print speedo with “FABULOUS” bedazzled on the crotch so maybe he needs more in his life.” She said. Ymir laughed.

“Nah, he’s super supportive of his sisters, he just wants his classmates to see him as macho.” Ymir said. “I bought it as a gag gifts and gave it to the girls, cause if they give it to him he’ll wear it. I didn’t realize they would bedazzle it.” Mikasa smiled.

“Well that’s sweet.” she turned to Armin. “Thanks for the milk, and sorry for taking you away from your dinner.”

“It’s no problem. Just come on over if you need anything else. I always make sure to have plenty of ingredients so that we don’t have to make a last minute trip to the grocery store.” he told her. She nodded at him and then at the rest of the group.

“It was nice meeting all of you.” she said with a sweet smile. Jean began to glower at the girls after Armin closed the door behind her.

“Why couldn’t you two shut up? Couldn’t you see I wanted to flirt with her?” he asked.

“Please.” Krista said, rolling her eyes. “You don’t have a shot with her. She’s gorgeous and popular and you’re a hipster.”

“Funny how you’re dissing me for being a hipster when you’re normally against anything fashion related.”

“I’m against the idea of ‘it’s not cool now that it’s popular’ that is rampant among that community.” Krista said with a shrug. “And either way, she’s an Ackerman. I was in an advanced Lit class with her first semester. And I’m not throwing that name around lightly. I mean THE Ackerman family.” Jean blinked.

“I’m lost.” he said.

“The Ackerman family has produced generations of prodigious dancers. Her Uncle is particularly famous. They’re A-List celebrities dude.” Eren replied.

“She must be getting loads of pressure to be a dancer like the rest of her family.” Ymir said. “At least she can make the compromise of Broadway or West End. She could make a killing that way.”

“Do you think she dances at all?” Jean asked.

“My guess is that she took dance lessons all through primary and secondary school.” Armin said, cuddling back up against Eren. “I doubt that a family like theirs would let her grow up without any dance education.”

“So, famous Uncle?” Jean asked again. This time everyone stared at him.

“Dude, have you been hiding under a rock?” Eren asked. “Levi Ackerman is a fucking household name.”

“Seriously. He’s won two olympic gold metals, and is bound to win another one in the upcoming olympics.” Krista said with an eye roll.

“But there aren’t any dancing events for men!” He insisted.

“Ice Dancing.” Ymir replied. “In the summers he dances like the rest of his family, but during the cold seasons he’s competing in Ice Dancing with his girlfriend.”

“Fiancee.” Krista corrected. “They got engaged like, last week.”

“Okay, my bad. But same difference.”

Jean leaned back in his seat. “I’m gonna start hanging over here until I can talk to her again.”

“Jesus fucking…” Ymir groaned. “There’s too many dicks in my house already.” she grumbled so low that only Krista could hear, making her laugh so hard that sprite came out her nose.

The guests stayed after dinner and decided to get to know each other better since they’d be forced into each other’s lives by food and romantic inclinations. Jean searched on his computer for topics beyond the typical stuff they did in class.

“Okay, this one’s not bad. Worst phase that you went through.” Ymir groaned and sank in her seat.

“Oh god, the Scene phase.” she groaned, making Armin laugh.

“The what?” Krista asked, somewhat intrigued.

“You know, the “Scene.” The hot pink streaks in dyed black hair, the black everything with piercings all over, buying everything from Hot Topic, and the classic, “I’m not a phase mom, this is who I am” and oh my god I’m glad it was just a phase.”

“I still have pictures of her from that phase.” Armin said.

“Don’t you dare show them off.” Ymir snapped.

“I’m assuming you went through the phase too? It sounds like you two were joined at the hip back then.” Krista said, looking at Armin. But he shook his head.

“I tried. But my I couldn’t go all out like she did. My parents had to take me pretty much everywhere then so I couldn’t dye my hair or get anything special pierced.” He said, “They let me pierce my ears though. That was the one thing my mom allowed. Course they couldn’t stop me from buying gauges while I was out with Ymir.”

“You mean fake gauges?” ERen asked.

“Oh! That reminds me!” Ymir said, hopping up and running over to their mail basket. “I ordered those plugs from that one show you like and they came in today.” she said, rifling through the mail.

“Wait, you have real gauges?” ERen asked, astounded.

“Yeah, I’ve been wearing them since we started dating.”

“I thought they were fake…” Eren said, surprised. Armin shook his head and took out the one he’d been wearing. The hole left was big enough that ERen could stick his pinkie through it, which he did several times until Armin batted his hand away to put in the new plugs.

“The more you know.” Krista said with a grin. “I have more respect for you now. Eren wanted to do those but couldn’t get past getting his ears pierced. He got the left one done but couldn’t handle anything more.” she snickered.

“Shut up.” Eren grumbled.

“So, Jaeger, what was your phase.” Eren shrugged.

“I didn’t really-”

“Oh yes you did.” Krist corrected. “In high school you were going through the “Thug life” phase.” ERen blinked.

“Oh, yeah.”

“It was ridiculous.” KRista laughed. “He wore his pants halfway down his ass and always had really brightly colored boxers on underneath with his hat on backwards. And I could barely read his texts cause he wanted to sound cool and it came out like crap.” Eren glowered as Armin and Ymir laughed.

“Okay, if mine was so bad then why don’t we talk about your Weeaboo phase?” he asked snarkily. “Ouran Host club all over your room, anime tee shirts every day, and the never ending stream of theme songs on your iPod.” Ymir stared at Krista.

“You were a weeaboo?” she asked. KRista nodded dejectedly.

“Yeah, I even took japanese as my foreign language class. I think my phase ended when I was in the study abroad program and the kid in my host family gave me a lecture about being a weeb.” She admitted.

“But she’s still into anime.” ERen said. “Fucking got me into it too.”

“If it helps, the rest of us went through it. I don’t think quite as bad but we did.” Ymir said, but Jean shook his head.

“I was just as bad as her, but mine didn’t stop until I got older and started the Doctor Who thing, you met me right at the beginning of that one.” He said, pointing at Ymir.

“Well, I think maybe it’s because Armin and I started in our sophomore year as opposed to middle school like you two.” Ymir mused. “Either way, at least we have that in common.”

“Hey, have you seen that one that Netflix put on recently?” Krista asked, leaning forward.

They spent the rest of the evening suggesting Manga and Anime to read, until someone mentioned the extremely popular Shingeki no Kyojin and everyone began praying for the safety of their favorite characters.

Chapter Text

School kept going and Eren went absolutely nowhere. The double meaning being that he and Armin were still going strong, but the only concession he’d made to his fashion was to toss out his jeans with holes from wear and the tee shirts where you you could barely tell what had been on the shirt because they were either faded or covered in paint.

It was a start as far as Armin was concerned, but Ymir wasn’t convinced.

The week before thanksgiving break, Krista came up to Ymir at the apartment. “I have a favor to ask.” She said, walking under Ymir’s arm and into the kitchen to look for leftover pastries.

“Please come in.” Ymir muttered under her breath. “What do you need?”

“Pretend to be my girlfriend for the week. I’ll pay for your food and lodging and everything just please pretend to be my girlfriend while I go to my parent’s for the week.” Krista said, looking around for the goodies.

“Why?”

“Because my parents keep bitching at me to find someone and I can’t take Eren home and pretend. And Armin wants to spend Thanksgiving with his grandpa, and he said you were just going to stay here sooooo.” She shrugged. “Listen I’ll even pay you in clothes or whatever. Please just pretend to be my girlfriend, if I show up single I’ll never hear the end of it.”

“You realize I expect you to look good. You showed your potential at the damn play so you better look at least that good.” Ymir said. Krista rolled her eyes.

“Well duh, I’m not going to show up around my successful brothers and sisters and look like a slob. I’m doing this to impress them. I need to prove that I’m doing just as good as them.” Krista grumbled. “I can’t stand being looked down on.”

“So your family is going to be okay with me showing up with you?” Ymir asked.

“My brothers haven’t settled down. Don’t even have girlfriends. They’re pulling the excuse of focussing on their careers. If I show up with a girlfriend, they’re going to be embarrassed because their baby sister is able to get a girl when they can’t.” Ymir laughed.

“Count me in.”

The next week Eren, Ymir, and Krista all boarded a plane for a two hour flight to New York. Eren kept bugging Ymir to know why she put being a fake girlfriend over her family, but she refused to answer. Eventually Krista got tired of the conversation and told him to shove his complimentary peanuts down his throat.

They changed the subject to Armin’s grandpa. “His parents died a couple years back. Real nasty car crash. He’s lived with his grandpa since.” Ymir said when Krista asked. “His grandpa is the sweetest man I’ve ever met, oh my word. The man is the typical grandpa, showered Armin with gifts and sweets. Didn’t spoil him per se, but definitely made Armin feel loved. He was the one Armin came out to first, in his family anyway.”

“I can’t wait to meet him.” Eren said. Krista nodded.

“So uh, what were his views on Armin’s ex?” Eren asked. Ymir smirked. She’d overheard some of that conversation. Eren kept trying to find out about the dude that had been with Armin for years, and all Armin would say was that it was over and he didn’t feel like talking about it.

“He wasn’t super pleased with him. But he never said as much to Armin, wanted him to be happy. Which Armin said he was.”

“What was his name?” Eren asked casually.

“Why don’t you ask Armin?” She asked innocently. Eren pursed his lips and looked out the window. Krista laughed.

“We know it’s a sore subject, and that’s why he really wants to know.” She explained. “I’m going to be honest, I’ve never seen him so worked up over someone.” Ymir smiled and looked at Eren, who didn’t meet her eyes.

Their descent was announced and they all put their seatbelts back on.

Ymir was glad that the other two knew their way around, because she sure didn’t. Their first stop was the bathroom, which confused Ymir. “You went like right before we landed.” She said to historia, who was taking her backpack in with her.

“Just wait.” She sighed, slipping inside.

“She does this every time. You’ll understand why later, and we may as well wait cause it takes forever for them to get the bags out. By the way, did you really have to wear such a dressy shirt with fucking yoga pants?” He demanded.

“It’s not that dressy, you just have low standards.” Ymir snapped, though he was right. She’d worn one of her nicer tunic shirts and put her hair in a carefully messy bun. “Either way, I refuse to take such a long trip in jeans unless it’s freezing.”

“So you wore yoga pants.”

“They’re nice yoga pants.” Ymir snapped. “Honestly.”

Historia emerged thirty minutes later wearing a deep cut romper with a blue floral pattern and an open white lace holding the chest together, her hair was back in a loose braid and she was- and this was what almost killed Ymir- expertly winged liner and mascara.

“Who the fuck are you?” Ymir asked as Krista exchanged her flip flops for gladiator sandals.

“Har har.” Krista snapped back.

“Why don’t you dress like this all the time?” Ymir asked, feeling her heart rate go through the roof.

“Because I only have occasion to when I’m home or at parties, neither of which I go to often.” Krista replied. “Can we go get our luggage now?” Ymir nodded and followed them to the bag return. When they arrived, Eren ran off in the opposite direction towards a beautiful older woman with long brown hair.

“His mom.” Krista explained, giving him a look that Ymir couldn’t quite place. ERen hugged her and gave her a kiss on the cheek while she grabbed his hair and looked at it. “Come on, let's get our stuff.” Krista said softly. Ymir nodded and looked away.

She hadn’t wanted to tell Eren that she and her parents were more or less not on speaking terms. Her parents paid for her tuition, room, board, and habits, and in return she didn’t appear at the house any more than needed, and didn’t appear at any functions with them unless it was something like a wedding in the family.
They wanted to seem like good parents so they supported her financially, but didn’t want anything to do with her.

She would have killed for a relationship like Eren had with his mom, or Armin had with his grandpa.

The girls decided to go ahead and get Eren’s shit for him and dragged it over to him.

“Hey Carla.” Krista called as they got closer. Erens mother turned and smiled at her.

“Hello dear, you look good. Do you and your friend need a ride home?” She asked.

“No ma’am. Mother said they were going to send something my way.” KRista said with a shrug.

“Alright then, wouldn’t want them to waste money on the gas.” And then Carla turned her head to Ymir. “You’re close to ERen’s new partner, right?”

“Mom, don’t.” Eren begged.

“Is he a good guy? I don’t want ERen to get all heartbroken, and will he treat him right? What does he plan on doing? Wh-”

“Mom please, i told you he’s amazing, just take that and go.” Eren insisted. That shocked Ymir a little bit.

“He’s actually not half bad.” Krista said, which almost gave Ymir a heart attack.

“Honeslty,” Ymir said, slightly dazed, “I’ve been more worried about Eren dating Armin than the other way round.” Carla laughed.

“Well, he’s got a loyal friend, so that’s a good sign.” She said with a smile to Ymir.

“Well, you girls have fun, if you ever need to get away from your parents you know where to find me.” Carla said. They all walked out but split so that ERen and Carla could go to the parking lot while the girls found a bench to wait on.

“If my parents come, we tell them you met me as a model for extra credit in your fashion class.” Krista said softly, linking their arms, “We got to talking while I worked, we hit it off, and have been dating ever since.”

“So Eren and Armin’s story.” Ymir said.

“You bet your ass.” Krista muttered. “Also, my baptized name is Historia, so they’ll keep calling me that.”

“Bap- what?” Ymir asked. Krista sighed.

“I’m illegitimate, technically. Dad saw a pretty piece of ass and got her pregnant. To avoid too much scandal, my step mother faked a pregnancy, then my mother was snuck into the hospital and they faked my step mother giving birth to me and sent my mom on her way with a couple thousand dollars as hush money. They always treated me as less, and so I want to prove I can do better than any of my siblings.” Ymir whistled.

“That’s some serious shit. So, still, baptism? And where did KRista come from?” Ymir asked.

“Technically i’m Catholic, oh that reminds me.” She started digging through her backpack as she continued, “God doesn’t take attendance, and neither does my priest, so I don’t really go during the semester unless I have nothing else to do. I go while I’m here and do my rosary and everything. I’m the perfect little catholic child.” She sat up and draped a rosary around her neck. It looked like someone had encased lily petals inside the glass beads.

“Still doesn’t explain the name.” KRista sighed.

“Again, my first name is Historia, that’s how I was baptized. But my middle name is Kristiana. Eventually my family got tired of calling me Historia and started calling me Krista because they couldn’t think of a nickname for Historia.” Ymir nodded.

“Okay, that makes sense.” Krista nodded.

“Any other questions?”

“Not really.” They sat in silence for a few minutes before a lng limo pulled up in front of them and a young woman got out of the back, strggling with the pencil skirt of her dress.

“Hey girl, how’s it going?” Tjhe woman asked, checking her long brown ponytail.

“Very well Sasha, are my parents in the back.”

“If they were would I have said “hey girl?”” Sasha snorted. Krista breathed a sigh of relief.

“Oh thank fuck.” Krista said, “Come on, let’s get going. Get this bullshit over with.” Sasha smiled and walked around to pop the trunk.

“I’ve brought clothes for you and your li- wow you’re tall- you’re big lady.” Sasha replied. “Your parents expect to see you at the country club tomorrow at eleven thrity for brunch with the rest of your family, so i bought clothes accordingly. I’m glad you could get her size.” Ymir frowned.

“When did you get my size?”

“From Armin.” Krista said, handing over the suitcases, “Should I be fashionably late?” This was aimed at Sasha.

“I would not suggest it.” Sasha replied, “If you don’t want to be there any longer than need be, show up five minutes before to be on time, and then maybe have miss blue fake an upset stomach or something and be the dutiful partner and leave with her.”

“You have an assistant?” Ymir asked. Sasha waggled her hand.

“Technically I'm a secretary for her oldest sister, but once she graduates, then yes, I’ll be her assistant.” Sasha explained. “As it is I help her deal with her parents as per Frieda’s request.”

“Kind of.” KRista said, and Sasha nodded.

“MY parents work for her parents so I know how they are, and I know how she is, so I volunteered a while back to be her mini-assistant and help her figure out the most polite way to deal with the least amount of work. And I get paid to do so.” Sasha smiled at Ymir.

“So I don’t have to do anything until tomorrow?” KRista asked.

“Unless you want to be all mushy gushy at Maison de Fantaisie, where Abel and Freida plan on taking their partners tonight.” Sasha replied.

“When did Abel get a girlfriend?” Krista asked incredulously.

“Last month. He uh, started dating Brittany.”

“Oh son of a bitch.” KRista spat, “He’s doing it to spite me.”

“Well, yeah.” Sasha sighed. “Girl, do you want to go or not?” She asked.

“No. I’m gonna have to deal with that bitch way too much as it is. I’m staying in and having pizza.” Krista replied making Sasha smile.

“Have fun with that, but let’s get to that hotel first, huh?” Sasha prodded. The bunch got in the back of the limo and Sasha intercommed the driver to get going.

“Okay, real shit, who’s the bitch.” Sasha asked, breaking into a heath bar.

“Rude.” Ymir snipped.

“She’s friends with Eren’s new piece of ass.” Krista replied, “I couldn’t convince him so I asked her.” Sasha nodded.

“You going for her seemed a bit odd for you, especially with the way you messaged me about someone with the same name.” Sahsa looked at Ymir, “Don’t get me wrong, I don’t see anything wrong with you, she just grudges easy.”

“Do not.”

“Whatever helps you sleep at night.” Sasha joked.

“So you two met because of your parents.” Sasha thought about it for a minute.

“Technically. But she was alway on her best behavior. I got a scholarship to the school she and Eren went to, and by then her other siblings and their friends were gone, so I got to see how she really is. And it made me like her more.”

“She got to see how I was because she dated Eren for five minutes.” Krista interjected, “I like to tease and tell her new boy that she was the one that turned him gay.”

“I was not and you know it.” Sasha laughed.

“I do, but he doesn’t.” Krista replied, pulling a bottle of water out of a mini-fridge.

“So, what all do I have to do?” Ymir asked.

“Be pretty, dress nice, act polite.” Sasha replied. “You won’t even be required to go to mass.” Ymir nodded.

“I can handle that.”

“So what’s she bribing you with?” Sasha asked. “Last year she got some Lit student to come by giving her some series in first edition.”

“We haven’t quite settled on that.” Krista said. Sasha nodded.

“Try to keep it tame. I’m the one that has to buy it and send it over.” She asked.

“I will, you poor thing.” Ymir said, making sasha laugh.

They arrived at the hotel and were shown up to a huge suite on the top floor. “I got a king sized bed, since your brother runs the damn place I couldn’t get a double without it looking weird.” Sasha said apologetically.

“It’s fine.” both girls said. Sasha nodded and told them that she’d send them a pizza when it got closer to time.

“Oh,” she said before she left, “Your dad’s paying for the room, so go ahead and order room service if you get hungry.” She left with a smile and a wave.

Krista crashed on the sofa with a sigh. “Okay, you know my sob story, tell me yours.”

Ymir sat down on the soft armchair and leaned back. “Not much to tell. Parents don’t like me, keep me as far away as they can, are willing to pay out the ass to do so.”

“Ouch. Any siblings?”

“I wish.”

“Good lord.” Krista groaned, sitting back up, “I thought mine were bad.” Ymir shrugged.

“I’m used to it. Though I’m jealous of the boys.” Krista nodded.

“I’ve always been jealous of Eren because of Carla, she’s so nice. But I don’t envy him his father.” Ymir nodded.

“What’s his dad do?”

“Surgeon. Runs the hospital. He helped my dad get away with my switch.” Ymir flinched.

“Ouch.”

“Yeah.”

The two girls sat in silence. “I hate fashion majors so much because, and Eren doesn’t know this, when I brought Brittany home a while back my parents said they wished i would look more like her. So I started dressing like her and wearing makeup like her. And then she dumped me because she was only dating me so that she could be the pretty one in the relationship.” Ymir flinched. “And I have to keep looking like this or else they start looking down on me.”

“Okay, you’re coming from somewhere, I’m sorry.” Ymir said, “I’m like this because it was the one way I could feel good about myself before i left my house when my parents acted like I was a disappointment. It was my way of owning who I was.” Krista nodded.

They didn’t really talk for the rest of the night, but it was a comfortable silence, now having a better understanding of the other.

Chapter Text

The next morning both girls got up early and silently got ready together in the bathroom. Sasha came over around ten and showed them the outfits she’d picked out for the girls. Krista took her little pale pink cocktail dress with matching sunhat, but Ymir had an issue with the huge brimmed Kentucky Derby style fucker paired with her pale green sundress.

“I’m not wearing that.” She said. Sasha sighed.

“Listen, they’re all going to be dressed with these-”

“That doesn’t mean I have to.” Ymir insisted.

“Listen, part of the deal is acting the part.”

“I’m acting the part of a fashion major, therefore I’m putting my foot down.” Ymir told her flatly.

“Isn’t it a thing to set fashions?” Sasha asked.

“Not with that ugly piece.” Krista sighed from her spot slipping on the dress.

“Just let it go. Unless someone else is wearing the same hat.”

“Nobody’s wearing it, to my knowledge.” Sasha replied, tossing the hat back in the box. “I’ll take it back later then.”

“I’m sorry if you thought it was nice, I just don’t think it’s in good taste. Too much chiffon on the belt.” Sasha shook her head.

“It was just the only one that complimented the color of your dress.” She replied. “I’ll meet you down at the limo.”

“Where’s the club at?” Ymir asked as the door shut behind Sasha.

“Way out, there’s a huge plot of land for the golf course, and we’re going to have to spend like an hour or three with the ladies until the dudes get tired of playing golf.”

“Unless I fake being sick.” Ymir said, remembering the comment Sasha had made.

“Yeah, there’s that.” Krista said. “You could always claim food poisoning, one of my cousins owns the place now and he’d be absolutely mortified if that was the case.”

“Is there a hospital anywhere near there? I mean it’s an hour’s drive-”

“Grisha’s hospital.” Krista muttered darkly. “Honestly, don’t be shocked if you see him and Carla. This is a huge get together to show off kids.”

“So Eren might be there?”

“Nah, he’s probably going to be back home working on our assignments.” Krista floofed her curled hair one more time after she put on the hat. Ymir zipped up and pouted.

“I never thought I’d be sad to find out he wasn’t somewhere.”

“Right? Hell if you’re boy was there I’d be happy. At least we’re not going it completely alone.” Krista laughed.

They left their suite and met Sasha down at the limo. “Alright ladies, time to get the show on the road.” The girl said as they all piled in.

“So, who’s on the list, do you know?” Krista asked.

“The usual crowd.” Sasha replied. “But as far as I’m aware the RSVP for the Jaeger family wasn’t solid one way or the other.”

“Do what?” Ymir asked.

“Eren went on a trip over the summer to Greece?” Sasha looked to Krista for confirmation, and got a nod, “And Carla saw him for like a week before school started. He’s their only kid so she was probably talking to him about whether or not they should go together or not go at all.”

“So there’s a chance Grisha might drag him out?” Krista asked.

“Yeah, I know that he really wanted to make this. There’s a couple new people he wants to fund his hospital.”

“Anyone I’d recognize?” Krista asked. Sasha shrugged.

“Some big publisher and his heir, and I think the Hoover family flew in from Cali to solidify a contract with your parents. I’m not the one in charge of this deal dude, you know that.”

“I was just checking.”

Sasha then turned to Ymir and filled her in on the family. Krista’s dad and stepmom owned practically all of the land around them and ran a few of the supermarkets and department stores. Abel, Historia’s closest sibling by age, was somewhere in the middle of the food chain working for a big chain of fancy restaurants. Florian was working for one of the department stores her father owned in a managerial position. Dirk, the second youngest brother, had taken over the high end grocery store and was planning on expanding it. Urklyn was the oldest boy and had started his own successful chain of fast food restaurants with some serious financial help from Rod. And then Frieda was the oldest and being primed to take over everything else.

Freida, Urklyn, and Florian had all gotten married off to someone from another company as a contract or some medieval bullshit along those lines.

“Oh,” Sasha said as they pulled into the parking lot, “Connie’s in charge of the kitchen now, so maybe just suddenly get sick instead of having an upset stomach.” Ymir nodded and the three girls slid out of the back of the limo to be greeted by a sulky yet familiar face.

“So your mom convinced you to come?” Krista asked Eren.

“Bribed me is more like.” He replied. Ymir thought he looked halfway decent, Carla had made him pull his hair into a man bun and made him wear a nice suit that must have been tailor made. And she had to admit he did have some potential.

“What’d she bribe you with?” Krista prodded, a smile on her face.

“Remember that cake she sent us last year on my birthday?”

“Okay that cake could make me jump off a bridge into a shotglass full of nails.” KRista said with a sigh.

“Yeah, so, I came. I did manage to convince her to let me bring a sketchbook. I hate this place but the garden is beautiful.” He grumbled.

“I never thought I’d be happy to see you.” Ymir laughed. Eren shrugged.

“I’d be happier if Armin were here, but I don’t think he even knows the Reiss family.”

“Not to my knowledge.” Krista admitted.

“Okay everyone,” Sasha said, suddenly far more assistant like, “Let’s head to the dining area, it’d be best if we weren’t late.” They all walked through the huge, building to a glass room with a long metal table covered with pastries and several smaller glass and metal tables with gaudy flower arrangements. It looked out over a garden and golf course, and Ymir had to admit it was very beautiful.

Krista and Eren lead her to two couples while Sasha moved to stand against the wall. One couple were both rather short, with the man probably shorter than Ymir in flats, with his wife even shorter with a face barely visible under a huge green hat. The other were both tall and thin, and each had brown hair. Clara looked over and waved at them, which brought the attention of the other three adults to them. The brown haired man had a rather pinched face which was somewhat dominated by large glasses.

“There you are, I was wondering where you’d gotten off to.” He said tightly.

“I didn’t go anywhere dad,” Eren said, “I’d stopped outside to wait for Krista.” The shorter woman sighed.

“You still go by Krista?” She asked with a nasally voice.

“Only among close friends, mother.” Krista replied.

“Close friends should use your full name.” Mrs. Reiss snapped.

“I always thought that close friends were the ones that ought to use the nickname.” Carla mused, and Krista’s mother didn’t say anything else on the subject.

“So who’s this?” Her father asked.

“Oh, father, mother, this is my girlfriend Ymir Fritz.” Krista said, Ymir nodded politely as the short couple stared at her.

“I was not aware-” Her father started, and both girls prepared themselves for the rest of the sentence, “That the Fritz Corporation heir was attending your school.” Ymir blinked, having been expecting a slur. But she reminded herself that he was a businessman and ready to do whatever to expand his business. The same went for Grisha, who suddenly became more amiable.

“I don’t know that I’m the heir,” Ymir said shyly, “But yes, I attend school with these two.” She smiled at them both, having already forgotten Krista’s actual name.

“Ah, Historia, why didn’t you tell us?” Her father asked jovially. Ymir filed the name away in a closer mental storage unit since her parents were so intent on the name.

“I wanted to keep it a surprise.” Krista said with a bright smile. Eren was giving Ymir an inquisitive look over Krista’s head, which remained ignored.

“Well then, I’m glad I didn’t arrange the match that I hd thought about.” Her father laughed. “Well, your table is over there, with the blond boy, near the garden door. His family owns a very large publishing corporation. I would appreciate it if you befriended him, I want to get the books in my stores.” Krista nodded with a bright smile, and the three were excused.

“Okay,” Eren started once they were further off, and Ymir felt her heart sink, “You’re the heir of the biggest textile company in the freaking world?” He asked, this startled Krista as well.

“Do what now?” She asked.

“I’m not the heir, or at least if I am then it’s news to me.” Ymir replied. “Now can we stop it? It’s a sore topic.” She mumbled. They both nodded and they walked over to a table set for four, and only occupied by one.

“Armin?” Ymir asked as they got closer, recognizing the gauges she’d given him a while back. He snapped around and grinned. They all hugged him.

“Well thank god it’s you.” Krista said as Ymir nearly squeezed him to death, “I thought it would be some fedora wearing creep.” Armin laughed as Eren pulled him away for a big hug.

“No, it’s not. My grandpa sprung this on me, and I hadn’t realized that your families ran in the same circles.” He explained.

“Well thank god, I won’t have to deal with anyone else.” Krista laughed, “He wants me to befriend you.”

“Same with my dad.” Eren said, “Wants your old man to fund a new hospital near the college.”

“Good luck with that.” Armin laughed, “Grandpa’s more likely to fund a prison than your dad’s hospital.” They all sat down and continued talking, and everyone took part in making fun of the huge hats that the ladies wore.

Until a young man with blond hair walked up with a bitchy looking woman on his arm wearing a garishly pink dress and the same ugly white hat Ymir had turned away earlier.

“Historia, mother said that you’d found someone?” The man asked. Eren rolled his eyes and Krista took Ymir’s hand.

“Yes I have, this is Ymir.” She said with a sweet smile at her faux-girlfriend.

“Well, you remember Brittany.” He said smugly. Historia stared at the girl.

“I don’t know, do I?” She asked, “You’re wearing so much makeup that it’s impossible to tell.” Armin hid his laugh behind a cough, but Eren didn’t bother.

“Oh please,” Brittany scoffed, “You just wish your girlfriend looked as good as me.” Ymir cocked her eyebrow.

“I think she’s glad that I know what clothes I don’t look good in.” Ymir said, scanning the girl, from her gaudy hat, to the garish dress, to shoes that belonged in a nightclub instead of a country club.

“Oh please, you wish you knew how to dress.”

“Considering that the degree I’m getting, I’d say I know better than you.” Ymir said, “And check your attitude, your mask is starting to crack.” She tapped her forehead, where the makeup was indeed starting to crack and flake off. Brittany touched her forehead and excused herself.

“There’s no need to be so rude.” Abel snapped.

“I’m not being rude, and I literally didn’t recognize her at first. And by the way, I’m not the one that decided to date my sibling’s ex-friend.” Krista sat back and turned to Ymir.

“Your girlfriend needs to apologize.” Abel hissed.

“I was attacked first, so yours is the one that needs to apologize. And get an attitude check. Seriously, you want to be with that girl forever? You’re going to be absolutely miserable.” Ymir replied. Abel opened his mouth, but stopped with a young woman with long black hair put her hand on his shoulder.

“Enough, just go wait for your girlfriend like a good boy and leave our little sister alone.” She said with an authoritative tone. Abel stormed off after muttering something.

“Thanks Freida.” Krista sighed. Freida sighed.

“I thought I asked you not to start anything.” The older woman said.

“I didn’t start anything, Abel was the one that started it.” Krista insisted.

“Be better than them, you know that’s the best way.”

“You can act like that works all you want,” Ymir said, “But the only way to shut them up is to win the argument.” Freida sighed again.

“Abel’s not the type.”

“And neither am I.” Krista said with a smile.

“Historia, please just behave yourself while you’re down. I don’t need anymore drama in my life.” Freida said, sounding very maternal.

“I’ll behave if everyone else does.” Krista replied.

“Can you just-”

“Oh just tell Abel to act decent.” Eren interrupted, “He’s always been the one to start the fight. Has been since we were kids. All of you act like he’s the baby that can’t do anything wrong and then blame Krista. It’s like with weeds, you see her as the leaves or the flowers or whatever, but he’s at the root and you just keep cutting her out and the problems keep coming back.” Freida rubbed her temple.

“I don’t know why I bother with you two.” She sighed, walking away.

“That was rather poetic.” Ymir said.

“It’s true. Abel’s a piece of shit but since he picks on the black sheep then she’s the problem.” Eren said. “If he comes back over here again I’m going to punch him.”

“Please don’t.” Armin sighed, “the last thing I need to say is that my boyfriend started a fist fight with Abel Reiss.”

“Wouldn't be the first time, won’t be the last.” Eren mumbled.

A delicate little bell was rung and everyone that had been hovering around sat down at their assigned tables.

The food came out in tiny servings that only the self absorbed crowd found nice. Ymir looked around and saw a few guests that looked rather uncomfortable with their company and the food. Armin’s grandfather had a skeptical look all through the meal.

“Okay, I know Sasha’s boy toy is in charge of the kitchen, but the donut holes are more filling than this.” Eren muttered.

“You have to cater to the crowd.” Krista sighed, “And when majority thinks this is the essence of high society, that’s what they’ll pay for.”

“I vote we meet in our suite for a full meal later.”

“I’ll defintly meet you two.” Armin said, “My grandfather and I are set up in the really nice one on third avenue, is that where you two are?”

“Yep.” Both girls replied.

“Mom’s not happy either, she’s probably going to make something nice once dad goes back to the hospital.” Eren said.

“On second thought, ask her to make extras.” Krista said eagerly. Eren laughed and nodded.

Brunch wrapped up and most of the men left for the golf course, but Eren and Armin stayed behind, along with a few patriarchs that wanted to discuss business. Brittany moved to talk to Krista’s mom and it was obvious she was sucking up.

Ymir saw Armin’s grandfather move from his table towards them, and pointed it out to Armin. When he got closer, his face lit up.

“Ah, Ymir, hello darling, I wasn’t expecting to see you.” He said warmly, coming up behind his grandson and putting his hands on Armin’s shoulders.

“I didn’t have any plans so I came along with Krista.” Ymir replied.

“Well, at least you won’t spend Thanksgiving alone. Even if you have to spend it with this lot. You know you’re welcome to join us if it gets too much.” He said, squeezing Armin’s shoulder. Krista raised her hand.

“Does that apply to me?” She asked.

“Of course dear, feel free. I’m sure your father would allow it if you pull the business card.” He laughed. Eren sat rather awkwardly silent. Ymir caught Armin’s eye and looked between Eren and his grandfather. Armin’s eyes widened.

“You must be Doctor Jaeger’s boy.” Armin said to Eren, nearly making him fall out of his chair.

“Yes sir.” Eren said simply.

“You wouldn’t happen to be the same Eren that Armin was talking about?” Nobody said anything.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Mr. Arlert pulled back Armin’s head.

“Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I didn’t know he was going to be here.” Armin said honestly.

“Honestly child.” Mr. Arlert laughed, “Well, I’ve met your mother, and she seems like she’d raise a child right, so I’ll trust that until I can get to know you better. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I can feel them staring at me.” He pat Armin’s shoulder and left.

“He’s nice.” Krista said sadly.

“Yeah, he is.” Armin said with a small smile.

“That was freaky.” Eren said, making Ymir laugh.

“Oh please, he couldn’t hurt a fly.” Armin nodded.

“You know what, let’s go outside, I keep feeling the old farts looking at me like they’re going to try and butter me up to get to him.” Armin said. They all nodded and moved out to the garden.

They spend the rest of the event in there talking with the two artists taking turns at Eren’s sketchbook to take down the flowers.

They were starved when they got back, and waited for a text from Eren to say his mom was making a real meal.

Half an hour later they met in the lobby and Krista lead the way to Eren’s house, which wasn’t too far from where they were staying. Apparently his parents stayed in a huge apartment building that catered to the higher end community. Each floor of the various buildings were dedicated to to one family. As opposed to Armin and Ymir’s decently sized apartment building where there were four apartments per floor.

“Lord have mercy, this place is fancy.” Ymir said as they walked up a large spiral staircase with an intricate metal bannister.

“Yeah, you should see the inside. Marble is everywhere.” Krista replied.

They stopped at the third floor and arrived in time to see Grisha leaving for work, with Carla seeing him off at the door. Grisha’s eyes went immediately to Armin.

“Mr. Arlert, how nice to see you.” He said amiably, “I had no idea we had such a wonderful guest coming over.”

“Grisha, darling, you’ll be late to work if you don’t leave soon.” Carla said with the tone that every kid knew mean it was time to leave. But apparently Grisha wasn’t used to it.

“I’m sure the board will understand if I’m late for-”

“The hospital board might,” Carla interrupted, “But this board says that unless you want to eat the hospital’s thanksgiving meal then you need to get moving.” She finished tartly.

“Yes dear.” Grisha sighed, but he smiled at Armin, “I know we’re all meeting up again on wednesday, I look forward to seeing you there.” He slipped past, ignoring the two girls.

“Come on in you three,” Carla said with a genuine smile, “There’s a fresh batch of cookies to nibble on.” They all rushed inside, but Ymir and Armin stopped to ogle the foyer as Krista ran into the kitchen.

“Yeah,” Carla sighed, “Grisha has extravagant taste.” Armin had spent most of his life in his grandfather’s log mansion while Ymir had lived in a “modern” apartment filled with chrome and granite. But there were marble columns as supports, and antiques decorated the main area, with pure white walls and marble tiles on the floor with plush white leather seating.

“It’s very-” Ymir lost her words.

“I know hon, I don’t know why he got this place. I was pregnant when he picked it out so he knew we’d have a baby in a house that would show every stain. Thank god we could afford a cleaner. Kitchen’s this way.” She lead them into a huge kitchen that smelled of chocolate and vanilla. Eren sat at the bar and tried to bat Krista away from a cheesecake in front of him.

“Carla, tell him to give me some.” Krista whined.

“Eren, share.” Carla laughed.

“You haven’t seen her since we started college, if I let her at it before I give Ymir and Armin some, she’ll devour the whole thing.” Eren said, pushing her away.

“She did down a whole batch of scones on her own, with enough room for pasta afterward.” Ymir said, remembering their first dinner party, if you could call it that.

“Some girlfriend you’re pretending to be.” Krista muttered darkly as Eren cut a big piece for Armin.

“You said in front of your family, she’s not your family.” Carla laughed.

“Honestly that’s something I would have said about Grisha to his parents, so you could have fooled me.” Carla said, pulling a pack of butcher’s paper out of the fridge. She looked over at Armin, who’d been given about a quarter of the cheesecake. “You must be Eren’s boyfriend.” Erena and Armin started.

“Yes ma’am.” Armin replied. Carla nodded.

“He never even gives his best friend a portion that big. She’s lucky to get a sliver out of him.” Carla said with a grin.

“Speaking of, Carla can you cut me out a piece before he goes ham on it?” Krista asked.

Eren cut off a decent sized piece and offered it to Ymir. Krista glared at him.

“Not cool Jaeger.” She growled.

“I said Ymir and Armin first, they’ve never had mom’s food before.” Eren said, cutting off a small piece for Krista. Carla laughed while he cut out a large hunk for himself.

“I swear child.” his mom laughed. She pushed the cookies down the bar for them to dig into while she started prepping large steaks.

“So, which one of you convinced Eren to finally cut his hair?” She asked.

“That would be Armin.” Krista replied, as the other two were to busy savoring the cheesecake.

“About time, I’ve been trying for a while but he keeps putting off making the appointment.” Carla said.

Ymir stopped long enough between bites to say, “We could tell.” Which made Carla laugh.

“Well, I’m glad he’s got more friends.” Carla said with a smile. The four teens ate while Carla asked various questions about school and other friends and how well they ate while they were out, all while she got dinner ready.

Eren texted them the next day when his dad left and they all hung out with him and his mom to stay away from the business that would be conducted in the hotel’s confrence room.

The Wednesday engagement was just an oversized lunch, and they all managed to dodge out of the way of all of the people that would have tried to sweet talk Ymir and Armin.

But on thursday, Ymir and Krista weren’t able to get away from the big Reiss thanksgiving dinner, even when Rod faced a chance at sucking up to the Arlert family.

Ymir lost track of the evening partway through thanks to the surprisingly strong cocktails that Florian continually mixed throughout the evening. She vaguely remembered a bit of a fight between Krista and somebody before she was helped into the back of the limo, where she fell asleep.

She was woken up when they were back at the hotel, and she could think a little more clearly. She looked at Krista, who now had a slightly blackened eye.

“Oh my god.” Ymir gasped. Krista looked down and stormed into the hotel. Sasha sighed.

“Yeah, this won’t be the first time either, sadly.” She told Ymir.

“Who hit-”

“I’m not sure, but the usual suspects are her parents or Abel. The older siblings don’t usually get involved. Occasionally Florian will step in and try to break it up, she’s the peacemaker, but things have been rocky for her lately.”

“Thus the strong drinks.” Ymir muttered. Sasha nodded.

“The entire family’s been on edge lately, and that’s usually when things get nasty. When I found out who you were, I thought that maybe it would help mellow things out, since you were a chance at another avenue, but I guess I was wrong.” Ymir pat her shoulder.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.” Sasha sighed. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go have dinner with my boyfriend.” She said brightly.

“You might want to work on your hair.” Ymir said, glancing at the ponytail that never seemed to leave.

“Oh, I will.” Sasha grinned and slid back into the limo, “See you tomorrow!”

“We have more to do?” Ymir asked incredulously.

“No, I’ve got the day off so I’ll be spending it with you two. Don’t forget to get up early, we’re going to get away from the Reiss owned area to shop.” Sasha closed the door and the limo drove off.

Ymir made her way back to the hotel room, where Krista was angrily taking off her dress.

“So, I missed what happened.” Ymir said as she locked the door.

“Dad got pissed and I got punched.” Krista said sharply. “That’s it.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t sober enough to help.” Ymir said. Krista sat on the couch once she got the dress off, and started working on her shoes.

“Whatever, I usually don’t get much help so tonight was no different. I’m just sorry I dragged you into it.” Krista said throwing her left shoe across the room. Ymir moved to sit down next to her and also started taking off her shoes.

“I’m sorry for giving you so much shit.” Ymir said, “I didn’t realize you were dealing with so much.”

“Whatever, now you know to stop.”

“I’m not going to stop,” Ymir said honestly, making Krista stop and stare at her, “But I’m going to help you find clothes that look good that you can feel comfortable in.” Krista laughed.

“Good fucking luck with that.” She yanked off her last shoe and leaned back into the couch. “Sometimes I just want to give up. Once I graduate they’re going to try and force me into an arranged merger wedding, I just know it. It wouldn’t be so bad if it were you because you understand, but if your parents pretend you don’t exist then-”

“Yeah I get it. That doesn’t mean you have to give up completely. Just say flat out you want nothing to do with them and separate yourself for good.” Ymir said.

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy.” Krista sighed. Ymir shrugged her shoulders.

“Whatever you think. I’m going to go take a shower. Why don't you set an alarm so that we’re up and ready in time to meet sasha?” Krista nodded, and Ymir went into the back.