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WORD COUNT: 2476

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IT WAS NEARLY TEN o' clock and the party was still running wild within the mansion walls. Music seeped through every wall making it almost impossible to get complete utter silence. That was until Yelena had managed to find a room at the far end of the east wing of the mansion that was far enough to block out the loud music.

"Rock, paper, scissors... shoe!" Porco shouted out balling his fingers into a fist, revealing his choice. A rock.

You on the other hand could already sense that he'd go with that allowing you to whip out 'paper'. He threw his head back releasing an exasperated sigh "What?! No fair. You're cheating." He complained.

"Porco, you literally mumble out what you're about to pull out every time we do this. And it's not shoe you idiot, it's shoot!" You let out a soft chuckle and gently patted his back to comfort him.

The aforementioned huffed before crossing his arms over his chest like a child who had defeat written all over his face. "I knew that. I was just being silly!" He replied hotly.

"Mhm.." You hummed pretending to be convinced. You brought your gaze over to the latter of duo who was leaned up against a wall, silently scrolling through their phone.

"You don't believe me in the slightest bit do you?" Porco pulled out a cigarette box and whipped out a death stick. He used his other hand to fish out a lighter and placed the stick between his lips, lighting the end.

You stared at him and blinked your eyes twice. You thought you had Porco's entire personality figured out but you didn't ever imagine him doing drugs. The scent burned through your nostrils making your nose scrunch up with disgust. "Since when did you smoke?"

"Since I started hanging around this dude. He's an upperclassmen at the college I go to. His name was... what was it again?" He turned to the blonde eyebrows knitted together trying his best to recall the name. Being buzzed and all didn't help at all.

Yelena tore her eyes off the bright screen in her hands and raised her eyebrow at him. She merely scoffed in disbelief, "Really? His name is Zeke, my dude. Zeke Jaeger."

"Jaeger?" You repeated under your breath. "Is he related to Eren anyhow?"

"Eren? Who's that?" Porco inquired, leaning forward impatiently waiting for your response.

"A student who attends the University I go to. I guess I'd consider him as a friend of mine. He's a brunette with emerald green eyes." You shrugged replying as you scooted away from him. The smell of nicotine was nauseating.

He took the cigarette out of his mouth and let out a small puff of smoke that was aimed directly at you. A small grin plastered itself onto his face as he watched you cringe at the smell. "Nahh, Zeke said he was an only child. Raised by his grandparents."

Yelena nodded bringing her attention back to her phone. "Yeah, maybe their last names are just coincidental y'know?"

"Is it also a coincident they both have green eyes?" Porco mumbled before placing the cigarette in his mouth again. He placed the palms of his hands behind him and leaned back a little.

"Porco," Yelena sighed "Zeke does not have green eyes." She slowly slid her back down against the wall and propped her leg over the other.

He merely shrugged before pulling his phone out of his pocket. He typed away into the search bar of Instagram and pulled up an account '6zekejaeger9'. Surprisingly, the account had a large number of followers. Probably because the man who ran the account looked like a fucking model.

He shoved the screen into your face with a lazy smile making its way to his lips. "Here he is." Out of all the pictures to choose he chose the one that displayed a shirtless version of the blond.

"Did he get caught in the rain or what?" Warmth quickly cascaded onto your cheeks as you turned your face away. You had to admit he was handsome and the first thing you noticed was his toned body.

"This is a photo from his modeling shoot." He laughed at the question. "The concept was... 'heartbroken in the rain' you know? But with a hint of spice. He's popular nationally just not globally."

"Yeah totally, because a man heartbroken in the rain would be shirtless. Makes sense. Must've torn his shirt off out of either frustration or anger." You took one more glance at the photo before letting a soft scoff escape from your parted lips.

"It's a concept sweetie. And ladies love a shirtless man who is built like that! I'd take on a job like that but I'm afraid if you see me shirtless like that you'd instantly fall for me." He chuckled "And I don't want to break the friendship barrier between us."

"Say that again when my boyfriend is here. He'll probably pummel your ass." You smirked biting back the laugh traveling up your throat. "But imagine us dating? I think I'd die early from being stressed."

He rolled his eyes pinching the cigarette between his fingers, taking it out once again to let out a puff of smoke. "Oh how terrifying. Mullet dude beating my ass? Scary."

Porco felt his phone vibrate and his reflexes kicked in. He flipped the phone's screen up and read the notification. A half-smile made its way to his face as he tapped away, responding to the message. As soon as he put his hand phone away in his pocket the door swung open. You and Yelena simultaneously turned your heads towards the door.

Dressed in a black satin button-up and white jeans, Floch sauntered into the room slowly closing the door behind him. He buried his fingers deep into his pockets and found your eyes putting a smile on his face. Your breath got caught in your throat as you felt your jaw lock.

"There's my man!" Porco chuckled and pushed himself off the ground. He approached the redhead and gave him a bro-hug earning a breathless laugh from the other.

"Hey, hey." Floch greeted ruffling with the hair on the back of his head. "I just got here not too long ago. Had some work to finish up back at the office. Didn't know you were familiar with Y/N."

You blinked your eyes twice before pushing your lips up into a tight smile. "Didn't expect you to show up at Armin's party."

"Arlert and I are chill now. I actually saw the guy not too long ago, we exchanged greetings and went on our merry way." He gave the blond a firm pat before passing by him. Floch kneeled in front of you and delicately lifted your hand pressing his lips against your knuckles.

You let out a nervous laugh and slipped your hand away, letting it fall back to your side. "Good to see you too Floch."

"That reminds me." He fished out his phone from his jean pocket and pulled up your message history with him. It showed multiple text messages from him and no response from you. He presented it to you with a small frown on his face. "You didn't lose my number did you? Because you didn't even open up the messages I sent you."

You raised both your eyebrows pretending to be surprised, an apologetic smile curled upon your lips. "I've been busy these days. You know, business stuff back in Japan. Especially since I'm heading back by the end of December."

Peeking over his shoulder you caught Porco's mouth fall open preparing to utter the truth but Yelena was quick to catch on. She dragged the clueless blond out of the room shutting the door behind them. Part of you wished they hadn't left you alone with him.

Floch pursed his lips into a thin smile. "Don't worry about it, sweetheart. I understand, your brother and I have been keeping in touch. You see, he's worried about you."

"Kouji? Worried about me?" You laughed in disbelief. Hearing that definitely killed your mood. "How sweet. Really fucking sweet."

At first, you didn't mind Floch. Other than the fact that he was persistent and annoying at times you didn't mind him. Meaning that you didn't full on dislike him, you felt neutral about him. But right now he was stepping over a line that you wished he didn't. Talking to your older brother that is. Not even Levi did that because he had an idea of what type of relationship you and Kouji had.

He cocked an eyebrow into the air and tilted his head. His full smile merely faltered into a half smile, "Why? You don't believe me?"

"It's not that I don't believe you." You breathed out, hugging your knees close against your chest. "It's that you shouldn't believe him. He's not a nice as he makes himself out to be."

Floch slowly nodded feigning a crestfallen look on his face. He scooted an inch closer and placed a hand on your arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. "I'm sorry to hear that. Is there some sort of rift between you two? I'll be happy to be able to help you get some stuff off of your chest."

You flicked your eyes up meeting his softened hazel eyes. His eyebrows were creased together displaying a form of concern. You inhaled sharply and shook your head with a small smile on your face. "I'm good, but thank you for the offer."

"Oh come on." He breathed out. "It's obvious you need to vent out to someone. On the outside you may not show it but I know damn well that inside you're begging to tell someone about what went on between you and your brother."

"Floch, you don't know me that well. I don't know you that well either. There's just some things that are just far too personal." You explained shifting yourself further away from him.

"You know me well enough, Y/N." He stubbornly argued back and seated himself closer to you. "I promise venting will make you feel so much better."

"No, Floch. My answer is final." You clenched your jaw, averting your gaze towards the large window you were leaned up against.

"Fine." He sighed, running his fingers through his red thick bangs. "I'm sorry for acting like that, I'm just genuinely worried for you, you know? Can't I be worried for the girl I like?"

Your shoulders sank as your pressed your back against the wall. You fiddled with the golden chain on your purse and exhaled softly. "It's alright. But please don't say that."

"Say what?" He raised his eyebrow turning his head to you.

"That you like me, Floch. Don't say that please." You replied quietly, crossing your legs over one another. Right now you were begging for another person to walk through those doors because you didn't know how much longer you could take being alone in a room with Floch.

He chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me it's because of Jean. Because if it is, I'm sorry but I can't just stop liking you just like that, silly."

"No?" You responded quickly giving him a crooked smile. "I just don't like giving people false hope. That's the worst thing to do to a person, give them false hope."

Floch blinked his eyes twice with his lips pressed into a thin line. You watched as he brought himself back to reality, locking his jaw with an indifferent smile on his face. "The future is never set in stone. It's always changing so I'll have to politely ignore you on that one."

"What—" You mumbled out but before you could continue your sentence he suddenly wrapped his arms around your shoulders, pulling you into a hug. Your eyes flew open in pure shock as you were stunned in place.

"Don't say anything stupid. It makes me upset." He grumbled out resting his chin on your shoulder. Floch tightened his arms around you and you had a feeling that he wouldn't willingly let go any time soon.

You pushed on his chest with the palms of your hands and sighed hinting irritation in your voice. "Let me go, Floch. Please. This is very uncomfortable for me."

"Not until you take back what you said." He coldly replied.

You furrowed your eyebrows with a mix of disbelief and exasperation. "You're acting unreasonable, Floch. It's not the most pleasant thing to see. Are you buzzed or something?"

He chuckled lowly and shook his head. "And so what if I am? I'm still one hundred percent in my right state of mind."

"I doubt that." You let out a long heavy sigh as you found no other way out of this. The only option you could come up with was hitting him where it really hurts for a dude. But that was your last resort.

As if someone had heard your prayers, the door flew open to reveal the man of the night himself. Armin Arlert stood at the doorway, breathing haggard as he had just ran down the long corridor. Not too long after him Marco came running into the room.

He took a deep breath and began walking towards both you and Floch. Armin grabbed the redhead by the shoulder and forced him off of you. He shoved him to the side and took off his blazer, placing it over your legs.

"Y/N!" Marco breathed out and staggered to you, falling to your side on his knees. "Did he do anything bad? If so, I'll need to be prepared to hold back Jean from getting physical. Speaking of–"

"Floch you fucking asshole." Jean stomped into the room and walked over to Floch, standing over the redhead with hands tightly closed in fists. "What'd you do, huh?" He took him by the collar.

"Nothing." He stated nonchalantly wearing a smug expression on his face. "We just hung out in here dude. Chill."

Armin dragged himself over and got himself in between the two. "Alright quit it you two. Instead of getting into a fight shouldn't you check on Y/N, Jean? She's staring this way with a horrified look on her face."

He then turned to the redhead and continued, "And YOU. Mess with my friend again and things won't look too pretty, Floch. I'm serious because if you hurt her you'll have a shitstorm coming for you."

"What will you do?" He spat back slurring his words to the point where it almost sounded like gibberish. "Throw your soft punches at me, Arlert?"

"I assure you it's going to hurt. You're just drunk so I'll let this slide just this once. So get the fuck out of my damn party."

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author's note;
okay, but seeing armin mad?
mappa made it strangely
attractive, so you can imagine
that same concept in the last bit
of the chapter ;)

but did any of you
think Floch wouldn't
come back? hehe
i promise you this isn't
the last time he appears
in the book.

disclaimer:
i don't hate Floch
at all. i accept every
one's opinions abt him.
but i just felt like
making him the "antagonist"
in this book. haha oops