Chapter Text
After the three of you scan the vast menu for a few minutes, all of you walk up to the counter and order.
“Alright, that’s going to be $34.98 please.” The cashier states while handing you all your cups. You reach for your phone, which is in your back pocket, when you hear the card reader chime. You look up and see Hitch has already paid for all of your food and is smirking back at Pieck and you.
“Hey, I could’ve gotten it.” You tell Hitch with a small pout. “Can I send you money to cover mine?”
“No, I invited you guys out, so it's my treat!” Hitch turns back towards the cashier and takes the receipt, “Thank you!” She tells the cashier while grabbing the cups and walking towards the seating area.
“Well, thanks Hitch.” Pieck says while you three put your backpacks by a booth.
“Yeah, thank you Hitch!” You continue, giving Hitch a happy expression.
Hitch smiles and hands cups to Pieck and you. Pieck goes for the coffee she talked about earlier, Hitch goes for a Cherry Coke, and you get Dr. Pepper. The three of you sit back down and hear a loud notification sound. Instinctively you all go to check your phones, but Pieck and you set yours back down when you realize the sound wasn't you.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Hitch exclaimed, sounding extremely annoyed. Pieck shoots you a concerned glance and you give her the same one back. Hitch looks up from her phone, “Sorry guys, I was supposed to go to Echo tonight with my boyfriend but he cancelled on me. This is like the third time he's cancelled on me this month.” Hitch rolls her eyes but attempts to regain a smile.
“What the hell, the third time? No, because he actually needs to die.” You say locking eyes with Hitch.
“I know! If he keeps this up I’m actually going to break up with him.” Hitch looks towards the counter and starts to get up, “I think our food is ready.” She says gesturing with her head for you guys to come with her to look.
“I don’t know how you put up with Marlowe, Hitch.” Pieck tells her while standing up and you shake your head in agreement. She looks back at you, “Do you have a boyfriend, y/n?”
“Or a girlfriend?” Hitch butts in, looking you up and down before winking at you.
“I don’t.” You say, feeling your face heat up slightly at the question. The last person you had dated was in junior year of high school, but the thought of dating someone right now felt wrong. Even with your girlfriend in highschool, something didn’t feel right. Every time you’ve tried having a crush after you left Shiganshina, it felt wrong; but more specifically, everyone felt wrong. In fact, that's why you broke up with your girlfriend, it wasn’t fair to her that you had this nagging feeling saying she wasn’t the one when she felt the complete opposite about you.
“Me neither,” Pieck frowns while grabbing her tray of food, you hear her hesitate slightly but she continues, “I might just be crazy, but y/n, do I know you from somewhere?”
“Stop, I was thinking the same thing! You look so familiar but I can’t put my finger on it. Did you grow up in Shiganshina?” You inquire; maybe you know her from elementary school?
“No I didn’t, I actually grew up in Marley. I went to Liberio Elementary, Middle and High School, if you know where that is.” Your eyes widen in realization as the three of you sit back down at your booth.
“Oh! I probably know you from Liberio Middle School! I moved away from Shiganshina in fifth grade and spent a little bit of time in Liberio before moving to Karifa because my mom hated Liberio.” You chuckle and take a bite of your food.
“I don’t think anybody really likes Liberio.” Pieck remarks laughing along with you. “Hows the food, Hitch?” Pieck inquires, making sure Hitch doesn’t feel left out.
“It's good! Not gonna lie while you guys were talking I was thinking, since Marlowe cancelled on me… do you guys want to come to Echo with me?” Hitch’s eyes go back and forth between Pieck and you as she awaits your answers.
“I’m sorry, what is Echo?” You feel flustered having to ask, but you don’t remember any place called Echo from your childhood.
“It’s a bar that opened a couple years ago! Although everyone basically treats it as a club since it's popular with college students.” She shrugs. You start feeling doubt in your stomach, you never partied in high school because your mom wouldn’t let you, so the club is especially foreign to you. As if she could hear your thoughts Hitch interrupts, “Please, it will be so fun! Maybe you can even meet new people! Are you guys in?” Hitch is raising her eyebrows and staring the two of you down. You turn to Pieck who shakes her head and states she already has plans. Hitch frowns and looks back towards you with a hopeful expression.
“Okay, I’m in.” You give a small smile while Hitch celebrates across from you.
“Okay! Do you live on campus or off-campus? I won’t drink because I have an interview at 9am tomorrow which I CANNOT be hungover for, so I can be your designated driver!” Hitch explains, her voice slightly higher pitched from her excitement.
“I live at Oak Ridge Apartments, it’s probably about 15 minutes from here if I had to guess? If that's too far I can just Uber.” Even though you said you will just Uber, you’re silently praying Hitch will come pick you up.
“No it’s fine, I’ll come get you! You could be 30 minutes away and I will still pull up.” Hitch replies smiling from ear to ear. You feel a strange pit in your stomach, it could be nerves, dread, maybe even excitement, but you push it away. Quickly you glance down at your phone and see that somehow it is already 12:10pm. Your class was on the complete other side of campus so you needed to leave now.
“Shit, sorry guys I have to get to class.” You notify the group, cursing yourself in your head for not keeping better track of the time.
“No worries! Have a good time at class and be ready by, I don't know, like 8 if that works?” Hitch says to you as you grab your backpack.
“Yeah, that works!” You quickly reply back. You didn’t have time to process what she said due to your frantic mind, so you internally hoped that time worked with your schedule. “Bye guys, I’ll see you later!”
“Bye y/n!” Pieck and Hitch say in unison before you swiftly walk off. The walk to anatomy and physiology consists of weaving through slow walkers and constantly checking maps to make sure you were going the correct direction. Luckily, you made it to anatomy at 12:27pm and sat down in what was one of the last seats left, which was right at the front and directly in front of your professor's desk. I need to get a better seat for the next lecture, you think to yourself. Just when you thought this spot couldn’t get worse, you notice that you've conveniently sat between two men. You hear a loud bang from behind you and frantic footsteps, you turn around and notice the sound came from someone with messy brown hair that's gathered in a ponytail and glasses.
“So sorry for startling you all! Don’t worry about getting out laptops or tablets, we won't be needing those!” They take a moment to catch their breath before smiling wide, “My name is Hange Zoë and I will be your professor for anatomy and physiology!” They grab their laptop out of their bag and plug it into a cord, lighting up the projector with the syllabus. “Before I start with the boring syllabus stuff, I want to let you all know I want you to call me Hange! Not Dr. Zoë or Professor Zoë, just Hange. If you absolutely need formalities, Dr. Hange works. I don’t want you all to view me as strictly your professor, I want you all to feel comfortable asking me questions and coming to office hours as if I was your friend.” Hange continued on for the rest of class about the syllabus and briefly introduced themselves; it's clear they are passionate about anatomy and physiology. They even showed some of their past work dissecting and experimenting with rats.
“Do not be afraid to email me with any questions lovelies! Have a good weekend!” Hange wrapped up class promptly at 1:20pm. Since it was the first day of school you didn’t have your two labs that you normally would have on Fridays, so you can head home. You grab your backpack from in front of you and go stand up, but you feel a tap on your shoulder. You turn to the side and see one of the men that you had sat next to.
“Could I get your number? I don’t know anybody in this class but I want to form a study group so I’m asking around.” The man tells you.
You feel a bit of unease giving a man you didn’t know even in the slightest your number. For all you know he could turn out to be evil. “Sorry but, does Instagram work?” You sheepishly ask him and he gives you a quick nod before handing you his phone. You search for your Instagram and hit follow. He wasn’t speaking at all which created an awkward tension which you attempted to break, “My name's y/n.”
“My name's Floch.” He replies back to you with nearly no emotion on his face. Is this man even real? You were able to take in his appearance now and noticed he has ginger hair with a diabolical side swoop, and wore jeans so tight that at any moment could burst at the seams.
“Well it was nice to meet you, but I’ve got to go now.” He didn’t reply to you, instead he gave you a nod and walked away. He is definitely something, you think to yourself and hold back a laugh while you walk out of the building. Even though it was only 1:20pm, meaning you'd barely been up for 5 hours, you were exhausted. You quicken your pace in hopes that you’ll reach your car sooner. During your classes clouds formed and shaded you from the sun on the walk back to your car. Even with the sun barely shining the greenery and nature of the campus was astonishing. The vibrant red of the poppies sprouting contrasted against the green blades of grass. After what felt like an eternity, you reached your car and headed for your apartment, in hopes of taking a nap.
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The unlocking and closing of the front door woke you up from your nap. Realization hits you that you never set an alarm, so you sit up and reach for your phone to see that it's now 4:38pm. Shit. You originally had wanted to go grocery shopping after you woke up from your nap but since you forgot to set an alarm, you wouldn’t have enough time to shop and be ready to leave by 8. Slowly, you get up from your bed and grab your backpack. You pull out your laptop and open up canvas in order to check your to-do list. Due next week was a syllabus quiz for biology and due Monday was a syllabus quiz for anatomy and physiology. Opening up the biology syllabus in another tab, you split the screen with the syllabus and the quiz so you can easily find the answers. The quiz has fifteen questions and all of them are pretty simple. Swiftly you finish both your biology and anatomy syllabus quizzes and stand up to use the bathroom. After washing your hands you leave the bathroom and walk into the living room, where your roommate sits on the couch.
“Hey.” You say before plopping down on the chair adjacent to the couch.
‘Hi.” Annie replies back to you making eye contact before looking back at the TV. Your stomach rumbles loudly and Annie gazes in your direction. You cover your mouth with your hand while Annie and you start laughing. “Have you eaten dinner yet?” Annie asked you with her eyebrows furrowed.
“Not yet. Have you?” You return the question.
“No. Do you want me to order something and we can pick it up? My boyfriend is getting me at 7:30 so I should probably eat before I leave.” She inquires looking towards you for an answer.
“Yeah that sounds good! I haven’t been here in a long time so I’m not sure what's still around. Is there anything you want?” After asking her you hoped she would say she wanted Indian food because you’ve been craving it. Eren, Armin, Mikasa and you would always go to ‘Naan Stop’ with Mrs. Jaeger when you were younger and you’ve been thinking about it often recently. Liberio and Karifa had very limited restaurant options, with the majority of them being Italian and very obviously non-authentic Mexican food.
“You’re not from here? Where are you from?” She tilts her head to the side, slightly shocked.
“It’s kind of a long story but basically I was born here, then moved to Marley when I was 9.” You say for the second time today.
“I used to live in Marley when I was a kid,” She tells you, she looks at the ground and you notice her smile is gone. “I came here when I was 10, so we just missed each other.” You frown at learning this, there's a chance you guys could have been friends if you stayed in Shiganshina or had she stayed in Marley. “Do you like Indian food? My friend group has this spot we go to often and I can order online.” Annie switches the conversation back to dinner.
“I was literally just thinking about Indian food! We should definitely get it!” You smile widely. Even though you just met Annie this morning, weirdly it wasn’t awkward. Annie didn’t have a lot of emotion when she spoke but it wasn’t in a condescending way, it’s likely that's just how she is. Annie grabs her phone and starts typing quickly before sliding it over to you.
“Get whatever you’d like. I’ll pay for it as well. Maybe next time you can pay?” Annie proposes to you.
“Sounds good to me!” You lowly state, more concentrated on the menu. When you glance at the restaurant name you realize it's the same spot you used to go with Eren, Armin, and Mikasa; I guess some things don’t change, you say in your head. Instantly you gravitate towards your childhood favorites, which were basically just Mrs. Jaeger's favorites because whatever she would get, you would get. “Heres your phone back.” You extend your arm over to her and she grabs her phone.
“It says it’ll only take 15 minutes so we should head over now,” Annie notes while standing up and walking towards the key rack, “Do you want me to drive?” She looks back towards you, raising her eyebrow.
“No it’s okay I can drive! You paid so it’s the least I can do.” You follow Annie and she throws your keys towards you. “Lowkey, I’m not changing.” You say as you look down at your pajamas that you had put on earlier to nap in.
Annie smiles, “ Fair enough.” You both gather by the door, put on your shoes, and leave the apartment.
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We arrived at the restaurant and Annie got out of the car to retrieve the food. Looking in the windows of the restaurant you notice they are packed: line to the door, every booth taken, and people everywhere. The restaurant looked the same as it did when you were younger. Tan walls with the one wooden accent wall, black and red booths, and warm toned hanging lights above every booth that made the restaurant cozy. Being back at this place made you miss your old friends so much. When you got your acceptance letter from Shiganshina State, all you could think about was how much you hoped you would see Eren, Armin and Mikasa again, but it's likely they went to another college. What if you did see them again and they don’t remember you? Pushing those thoughts away, you grab your phone and notice you have four missed messages from Hitch.
hitch
i forgot to tell you
the theme tonight for echo is alternative !!
you don’t have to necessarily dress up in a certain way, it's more to let everybody know what the bands set list will look like
remember be ready by 8 !
y/n
okay !
i’m so exciteddddd
A big smile forms across your face, contrasting with the knots you feel forming in your stomach. The passenger side door swings open and Annie hops back in the car.
“Damn, that was fast.” You say while Annie buckles herself in.
“Thats why I order online. That line is fucking crazy.” She states while shaking her head. You laugh and put the car into reverse to head home.
Once you arrive home, the two of you eat on the couch while watching Netflix. Annie let you pick the show so you put on Stranger Things. A show that you have seen many times, and are now mourning how much better it could have ended.
“I’ve heard only bad things about the ending of this.” Annie looks towards you, silently asking for your opinion. You notice Annie is scarfing down her food and continuously checking the time.
“Honestly I didn't really like it, but the show is so nostalgic for me I just kind of forced myself to watch it.” You let out with a sigh as you drink your water.
The two of you continue to eat in silence while you sit and watch the show. Annie finishes her food and tells you she needs to get ready. You didn’t ask her where she was going, partially because you were afraid of overstepping, all you know is that her boyfriend is picking her up for something at 7:30. You finish watching the episode you guys started and afterwards resort back to your room. It's now around 7 and you can hear Annie’s music blaring from her room. You decide it’s time for you to get ready as well.
You put on your pinstripe skirt and purple top, an outfit you haven’t paired before but surprisingly goes really well together. As you put on your jewelry you think of what makeup look you should go for tonight. While walking over to your vanity, you realize that you ran out of your liquid eyeliner, which you were going to buy while grocery shopping; however, with the two hour nap you took earlier you never got to the store.
“Shit,” you say, “Maybe Annie will have some.” You decide to try your luck and walk over to her room. You knock on her door and hear a loud “Come in!” from the other side of the door. Annie reaches over to turn down her phone so she can hear you, ”Sorry weird question, but do you have eyeliner?” You look at her, pushing your hands together into a praying position.
“Yeah, I’m done with my makeup so you can use it.” Annie states before grabbing it off the table and stretching her arm out towards you.
“Thank you! You’re the best.” You shoot her a smile before walking out her room and closing the door behind you.
You touch up your makeup from this morning, fixing your concealer and blush which was almost entirely rubbed off in your sleep. After drawing on your winged eyeliner, you smoke it out with dark grey eyeshadow and add dark grey sparkles to your eyelid. To finish the look you put on your favorite lipstick, Clinique’s black honey, with a clear gloss on top. You go to put your lipstick and gloss in your bag before realizing you left it on the island. When you step out of your room you’re met with Annie, in a black mini dress with a black leather jacket on top. Her blonde hair was no longer in a bun and was now down, just barely touching her shoulders.
“My boyfriend just pulled up so I’m going to leave.” She informs you while turning towards the door. She only makes it a few steps before she turns back in your direction, “Oh yeah, we should probably exchange numbers.” She says while grabbing her phone out of her jacket pocket. She finds her way to the contacts app and hands you over the phone. You quickly input your number and name so you don’t keep Annie’s boyfriend waiting. “See you later.” Annie smiles at you and swiftly walks out of the apartment, leaving you on your own.
You glance down at your phone and see that it was a little after 7:30 so you needed to start on your hair. You walk into your shared bathroom, grab your straightener, and begin to section off your hair. Now that Annie is gone, you play your music at full blast too. While finishing the last section you feel your phone vibrate.
hitch
i’m about to pull into your complex !
y/n
okay perfect! let me put my shoes on
After brushing your teeth, you frantically walk over to your room and slip on your platform, black Doc Martens. On your way out you grab your purse and your apartment keys. You can’t help but feel a little anxious knowing this is your first real party and assuming that you won’t know anyone but Hitch. You run out the door and find your way to Hitch’s car. She’s sitting in a blue Mini Cooper which is so fitting.
“You look so cute y/n! I love that shirt, where’d you get it?” Hitch asks with an excited gleam in her eyes.
“Thank you! I got it from Urban Outfitters a few years ago and it’s definitely one of my favorite shirts.” You say, thankfully your nerves start to simmer. “I love your outfit too! You did a really good job with your eyeshadow!” You notice her bright pink blush and eyeshadow, although it's alternative night you remember Hitch saying you don’t have to dress to the theme.
“Oh before we go, I got a present for you!” She winks at you as she grabs something from her purse. You instantly recognize the bottle, a Pink Whitney shooter.
“Aww you shouldn’t have!” You take the bottle from her with a smile. The night is starting off better than you thought it would. You are about to open the bottle as Hitch cuts you off.
“Wait no, don't take it yet! I want to document our first hangout!” She digs in the center console and pulls out a light blue digital camera. “Say cheese!” the light flashes quickly and you down the bottle of Pink Whitney.
“Light work, no reaction.” Hitch says, surprised that you were able to take it so easily while she whips the car into reverse. Once you guys are on the road, you can see on her maps that you’ll arrive in 30 minutes. Hitch rolls down the windows and turns up the music.
“Is the volume okay?” Hitch yells over the music, Rush by Troye Sivan is drowning her out. “Yeah, it’s fine!” you reply and go back to singing along with Hitch. You hadn’t felt real friendship like this since sophomore year of high school, so you let go of all your intrusive thoughts and worries to be able to enjoy the night without anxiety.
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You and Hitch gather in line with everyone else, interlocking arms with each other. You hear a security guard yell out, “Everyone needs their ID’s before you get to the door!” You both reach into your purses and pull out your wallets.
“Someone's happy tonight.” Hitch sarcastically comments as she finds her ID, making you laugh. She also pulls out her lipgloss to touch up her lips. The two of you quickly approach the front of the line and hand the bouncer your ID’s, to which you were quickly let in. You instantly recognize the song the band is playing as Join Me In Death.
“I love this song!” You beam in Hitch’s direction, singing along in your head. Hitch was right about what she said earlier; the left side of the bar was definitely more calm, but the right side, which was by the band, was extremely crowded with drunk people dancing and singing.
“I’m actually going to piss myself, so I’m going to the bathroom!” Hitch says to you while pointing in the direction of where you assumed the bathroom is.
“Okay, I’ll get a shot!” You reply back to her.
“That’s my girl.” Hitch chuckles before confidently making her way to the bathroom.
You stride over to the bar and stand at the only open spot. Luckily they had plenty of bartenders tonight so it shouldn’t take long to get your drink. Almost as soon as you think that, a gorgeous bartender walks in your direction. She had brown hair that was tied into a low ponytail, sharp eyeliner, and freckles all over her cheeks; she loudly asked what you would like to drink.
“Could I get one lemon drop, please?” You ask the bartender sweetly.
“Of course.” She turns her back and starts mixing up your shot. The band is halfway through playing The Jetset Life is Gonna Kill You, and you could already tell the vocalist has insane range. While he didn’t sound anything like Villie Valo or Gerard Way, he was able to add elements of their voices into his own, and pull it off so well. I need to see this man, you think to yourself while your bartender approaches you with your shot. “It’s going to be $2 dollars, please.” She flashes you a shocked smile as you down the shot in front of her. You dig in your wallet and pull out a $5 bill. “Three dollars back?” She dips her eyebrow at you while still smiling, slyly asking if you wanted to tip.
“No, keep the change.” You tell her, giving her a smile back.
“Damn y/n, that's over a 100% tip.” You hear a familiar voice say and you whip your head to your right. Your mouth falls slightly agape when you see your roommate Annie. “I didn’t know you were coming here tonight.” She says while grabbing her drink off the table.
“Yeah! I came with a friend from my biology class. I didn’t think you would be here either.” You respond while pulling back from the bar.
“Have you seen the band yet? My boyfriends at the front of the line, so you can weave through the crowd with me.” She asks and tilts her head to the side.
“I haven’t seen them yet. Lead the way.” You grin as she starts hastily walking towards the crowd. She takes your wrist with her free hand and begins to cut through the audience. You haven’t gotten a good look at the band yet due to the fact that all you can see is other peoples heads. When you make it to the barricade, you pull out your phone and quickly text Hitch that you’re now at the front of the crowd and to come meet you there.
“Y/n, this is my boyfriend.” Annie leans backwards as you tuck your phone back into your purse. “Armin, this is y/n. Y/n this is Armin.” Annie says, thinking she's introducing you to each other for the first time.
“Theres no way.” You say, stunned while staring at him with a blank expression.
“Y/n?” Armin says dumbfounded and you watch as his whole face brightens up. Annie raises her eyebrows and her eyes widen while Armin pushes past her. “Could I hug you?” He asks and you quickly nod.
“I thought I’d never see you again.” You tell him with a chuckle. Seeing Armin again was surreal. You’ve dreamed about this moment since you got to Marley; tears start to form in your eyes, but you tilt your head up to stop them.
“I thought the same thing.” Armin shares with a softness in his voice while pulling back. Armin's steel-blue eyes still had the same kindness that you remembered. “You look so different.” Armin says, taken aback by how much your appearance changed since you’d left. Armin notices your smile falter, “Not in a bad way of course!” He scrambles, thinking that he upset you.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t take it like that.” You ease his worries and regain an even bigger smile.
“This is hard to process.” Armin voices while running his hand across the side of his hair.
You chuckle and nod your head in agreement. It’s even more strange to see Armin without Eren and Mikasa by his side. When the four of you were kids you were all glued to each other's hips, so much so that you wouldn’t catch one of you without at least one of the others. “Are you still friends with Eren and Mikasa? Are they here?” You inquire, looking over Armin's shoulder to see if you missed them.
Armin chuckles at your question but quickly stops when he realizes you're being serious.
“Oh, have you not looked at the stage yet?”