1. Last Chance

College wasn't exactly what you wanted to do in your last years as a teenager, after high school you had thought about looking for a job and stopping your studies since you had never been able to enjoy school, not to think about all the difficulties you had had in those years. You almost failed even your favorite subjects, studying just wasn't for you.

And that's why you kept asking yourself what the fuck you were doing in college, it sucked.

"Good morning, beautiful." Jean spoke up as soon as you entered the room, it was your second class of the day and you wanted to skip it and pretend you never enrolled in this school. How could people be so happy and talkative at 10 in the morning when you could barely keep your eyes open?

"Shut the fuck up." You muttered sitting next to him, not because of choice but because he had begged you to sit with him at the start of that year. "Wake me up when something important happens." You mumbled then placing your forehead on the desk. Students were still entering and taking places, you knew that Mikasa, your best friend, had arrived the moment you heard her bag hitting the floor. "Hey, did we have any homework?" You asked turning to face her.

She shrugged while grabbing her books. "Not really, just some assignments." She explained and you nodded.

"Great, I can slee- wait, what assignments?" You snapped confused, your history professor had been absent for a few weeks because of some personal problem, and that was your first lesson since his return, but you had thought that maybe he had given you some stupid homework you could pretend not to see. "Did I miss something?"

The boy next to you shook his head. "Professor Jeager sent an e-mail like two weeks ago," Jean replied and you widened your eyes. Now that you thought about it, you had seen an e-mail but you hadn't read it and told yourself that you would've checked it another time... but you never did.

"Shit, shit, shit." You panicked grabbing your hair. "I'm dead, I'm so fucking dead." You didn't do it on purpose, you just forgot and focused on other stuff... like trying to get some rest and not fail any subject, it sounded harder than expected.

Jean patted your shoulder. "Relax, we're talking about Mr. Jeager, he won't get that mad if you explain your situation." He tried to comfort you.

"He's right," Mikasa mumbled. "He's the best."

Professor Jeager, if being hot was a crime... he would have a life sentence. He had started to teach when you started your first year of college, though you didn't have any of his classes. You had heard rumors about him, girls talked about how good-looking and young he was, but you never cared and thought they were just exaggerating.

To be honest, your first year of college had been tough. You had met a lot of new people, like your now best friend Mikasa, you had your first relationship with Jean Kirstein and ended up breaking up with him after 10 months, and you also managed not to fail anything.

You had had a lot of drama, even at that moment Jean kept trying to "win you over" because he thought your feelings were just confused. Sometimes you wished you could've just dropped out.

So now you were in your second year of college, meaning it was the very first year you attended Professor Jeager's class of history, you were shocked the first time you had ever seen him.

Brown long hair? Green emerald eyes? His face didn't have any flaws, he was also tall and had a charismatic personality. There wasn't a girl who despised him as he was also loved by every student, because of his young age and closeness with their mentality since he was only 24. Even boys were jealous of him, always spreading rumors about him after discovering that he was a pupil of vice-principal Levi Ackerman, saying that he got the job only because he was close to the man, which was probably true.

You thought he was cool, kinda funny, and very good-looking, but that was it. He didn't really inspire you to keep studying, his subject was pretty boring, to be honest, history was a pain in the neck but you had decided to attend it after most of the students in his class had told you that it was easy to pass without too much work.

It was only half true, professor Jeager didn't like surprise tests and gave always a lot of time notice before actually doing a test, which was absolutely perfect for your procrastination problem. On the other hand, he gave you a lot of homework, which sucked because you never remembered to do them, and ended up sending them way too late.

You were sure Mikasa had a crush on him, seeing how hard she worked, it was surprising knowing that she wasn't into relationships in general, sometimes you thought she didn't feel anything at all. So you never really thought of Professor Jeager as anything else but your history teacher whom you had to apologize to every time you handed late your work.

"I'll make up an excuse." You muttered taking your book from your bag.

As all the students had finally arrived, Professor Jeager made his entrance for the first time after two weeks of absence. Girls had been speculating about him visiting his hometown for a personal problem, maybe someone close to him had been feeling unwell since it was unusual that Vice Principal Ackerman gave him so much time off. Looking at him, you were sure there was something different about him, maybe the fact that he was wearing a black hoodie instead of his usual suit, he had his hair down and it was kind of messy. Yeah, he definitely didn't look the same as before.

"Good morning class, please take a seat and we'll start our lesson." Even his smile looked different, sadder, and forced. Maybe something bad really happened and he was trying to hide how he really felt. "I wanna say sorry for my long absence, but I already saw some of your assignments and I'm pleased that you have been working."

Guilt struck you as soon as he made eye contact with you, you hid your face and looked down at your book. It was rather embarrassing, but it was almost routine for you. "Are you ok?" Jean asked next to you.

"Yeah, I'm just a little tired." You snorted and started to listen to Professor Jeager's lesson, or at least you tried since you were always getting distracted, sometimes you would just daydream and get lost in your thoughts. You wished summer would come quickly so you would be free from school and do whatever you wanted.

And so, before you could even notice, the hour ended and everyone started to head out of the classroom. Your next lesson was even worse than history, economics sometimes just wasn't something you were interested in. "I'll see you later for lunch," Mikasa said as she walked past you and towards the door.

"Sure! See ya." You smiled, lunch was nice, you and Mikasa would grab something at some shop nearby and then eat in the park, only if the weather was nice, of course.

"Ah, let me come with you ladies." Jean joked surrounding your shoulders with his arm, sometimes you asked yourself just how desperate you had been to have a relationship with him, one of the worst playboys ever. But he could be nice to have around at times, so you decided to keep your ex-boyfriend as a friend. "I'll treat you to some good food and a bit of Jean."

"Suck it." You brushed off his arm. "We have economics, move it, dumbass." You chuckled and he sighed walking out.

You were about to walk out as well when a voice interrupted you. "Y/n, a word." Professor Jeager stopped you. Ah, there it goes, that feeling of anxiety mixed with fear because you knew you were in the wrong and you had been caught. You took a deep breath in and approached his desk slowly. "It appears that all your assignments are missing." He said while sitting on his desk.

You faked a small laugh that was just your way of expressing all your anxiety. "That's weird." You lied deciding that it was too embarrassing to just admit your faults. "I thought I had handed them in." You gulped and looked at his shoes, it was way too embarrassing to look at his emerald eyes. Because he was so young, handsome, and gentle, it was hard to lie to him. You always felt guilty afterward.

"Is that so?" He hummed and then sighed. "Oh well, just hand them in by the end of the day and try not to get too distracted." He said calmly and then patted your head. "If you have any problem, you can just tell me." You raised your eyes and saw him smiling tiredly. "Alright?"

"Yes, sir." You mumbled feeling your cheeks heating up because you knew that he definitely found out about your lie, yet he was so calm and kind about it. If he weren't your teacher, you would've hugged him and told him that the one that needed to talk was him, it was clear that he was having a bad time. "Thank you." You decided to let it go and quickly walked out of the room, moving then to your next class.

"What took you so long?" Jean asked as soon as you sat next to him. "Did Professor Jeager scold you for good this time?" He poked at your arm and you snorted tiredly, the image of the man's sad smile was impressed in your mind and you couldn't seem to get it out of your brain.

You yawned and leaned your head on the table. "Shut it, he was so sweet about it, I'm such a shitty person." If he were one of those grumpy old men who would nag every time you did something bad, you wouldn't have felt so bad about it. But that wasn't the case for him.

And you weren't even the type to care that much about some missing assignments, so what was that all about? Your conscience? "Hey, don't stress yourself." The boy next to you patted your shoulder. One of the few things that you liked about Jean was the fact that he was very genuine, you knew he cared about you and you appreciated his concern.

"Right, I just have to do all the work and hand in the assignments tonight." You mumbled under your breath. "Let me copy yours."

"Sure, if you want some shitty assignment done last minute." He chuckled, only then you realized that he wasn't the best student himself, at least not in history. You knew he had potential, you had basically all subjects together.

"I'll ask Mikasa, she is the best and I'm sure she'll help me out if I buy her dinner." You said then confidently, after all, your best friend wasn't the type to let you leave you in trouble. If anything, you could've paid her to thank her for her hard work. "Professor Jeager is so busy, he'll never notice anything, besides, I doubt he'll check it tomorrow for real." You smiled proudly, the plan was perfect.

So, as soon as you were home, you talked to Mikasa and explained the whole situation. At first, she was reluctant and didn't really know if it was a good idea, but after hearing from you how sad the professor looked, she decided to help.

It was wrong for you to play the crush card, but it was an important matter and, to be fair, you were also worried for the man and wanted to get it over with. You had seven different assignments, some were quick and others were way too long, it took you almost all night to get it done for midnight.

"Do you think Mr. Jeager won't find it suspicious?" Mikasa asked as soon as you laid down on your bed, you looked at her from the other half of the room that you shared.

He couldn't know that you were sharing a place, right? "Nah, he'll think that I did everything in a day and tell me to be careful, don't worry about it." If anything, you would've taken the fault and called it a day.

But you were positive things were going to be ok.

**

"I am so disappointed." Professor Jeager said showing two pieces of paper, it was both Mikasa and your assignments. After class was done, he had asked you and your best friend to stop for a moment to talk, but it was clear that he had found out already. "Although they're not completely identical, the pieces of information are all the same, and even the writing style, did you really think you could just copy from one another and I wouldn't have noticed?" He didn't sound angry, he sounded sad and almost offended, which was even worse.

You sighed, next to you Mikasa looked like she was going to cry any time soon, which was both weird and heartbreaking. "It was my fault, sir." You stepped forward and your best friend looked at you surprised. "I convinced her to help me with my work, she didn't want to at first but I insisted."

The man looked at you with his green eyes and you found yourself looking down at your shoes, avoiding his gaze seemed the best thing you could do. "Fine, Miss Ackerman, please leave us a minute." He murmured and sat on his desk.

Mikasa looked at him and then at you, she nodded and whispered. "I'll see you later." Then, she turned and left the classroom. That was nerve-racking, to say the least, you just hoped he wasn't going to mark you a bad grade, that could destroy your entire school career.

Eren sighed, he didn't really know what to say to you. After all, he was new to teaching and talking to students like this. He could see that you were feeling guilty, but he couldn't just tell you that it was okay and leave it at that. He had had Levi Ackerman as his teacher and he was used to being disciplined, but he didn't want to scold you like that. "So, can you tell me what happened?"

You gulped and forced a small smile. "I... tried to do my assignments yesterday but I failed?"

He tilted his head. "Do you want to talk about it?"

You raised your head and looked at him, he was being so nice while you were feeling so guilty. But the reality was, that he was the one that looked like he had a lot on his chest. "If I may, sir, I feel like you probably have something on your mind as well." You dared to say, you hoped he wouldn't take it too personally, but you couldn't help it because he looked so different from your first semester with him. "Are you ok?"

The man looked at you in disbelief. He was shocked, how did you, a mere student that could see him two or three times a week, realize so quickly that something was wrong? Among all the people around him, only two had actually asked how he was feeling. He gulped, that was unknown territory, how much could he share with you? But, in the end, he smiled softly and patted your head slowly. "How about a deal? You tell me what's going on with you and I tell you what's going on with me, how does that sound?" He offered.

You were staring at him, almost mesmerized by his gentle ways and charming voice. You had to take a deep breath and get yourself together. "Deal." You nodded with a small smile. "But, ehm, I suppose this will sound very bad." You chuckled and he remained silent. "The truth is that I totally forgot about the assignments, more like I forgot to read your email. I didn't do it on purpose, I always procrastinate so it really slipped my mind because I was so focused on the other subjects." You snorted, guilt striking again as you tried to avoid his gaze. "I'm sorry, I know this is not an excuse and I should focus on every subject. I will understand if you decide to fail me or something, but please give me another chance to demonstrate to you that I can do it." You were basically begging. You simply couldn't afford to fail any subject.

Eren snorted and looked at the ceiling, it wasn't that he couldn't understand you, he could see that you were somehow trying, but he could feel that it wasn't something you liked nor really cared about. "I see, you should work on your procrastination." He muttered before getting down from the desk. "Look, I'm not the type to nag people, I was a student too not long ago." He started with a serious tone. "But that doesn't mean that other professors would do the same, you need to get on track and work on your faults before asking for new chances."

You nodded, he was right. Did it make you feel like shit? Yes, it did. But there wasn't much you could do about that. "I am very sorry, it won't happen again."

"This is not the first time it happened, do you know how many times I had to ask you for your work after the deadline?" He asked and you pressed your lips together feeling ashamed of yourself. "I do hope you're not doing the same with other subjects, although it would hurt to know I'm the only one who gets this treatment." He joked and your heart skipped a beat.

His smile was so cute.

Wait... what? What was that about?

You shook your head, you would've slapped yourself for having such thoughts on your professor. "It happened some other times, but never like this." You replied with a nervous chuckle. "Am I in trouble?"

The professor sighed. "This is the last time I'll close an eye, am I clear?" He said and your eyes widened in surprise. "But that doesn't mean you'll get to pass without working. I want you to complete an assignment and send it to me every single day, then I'll correct it and tell you whether it's good or you need to work more on it, am I clear?" He wanted to sound at least a little menacing, but he failed miserably at that point."

"Yes, sir." You nodded happily. "I will do my best, you won't regret it!"

He chuckled a little at how enthusiastic you looked. "Fine, let's do this then." He grabbed his bag where he kept all his school materials and started to walk towards the door, you remained silent as you looked at him. You wanted to tell him that he hadn't respected the deal and that you were actually worried about him, but how could you say something like that to your professor? Once he reached the door, he turned and looked at you. "You're not going to your next lesson?"

You gulped, sure, he didn't exactly look like a professor and he was much younger than all your other teachers, sometimes you were tempted to just talk to him like you did to Jean or any other friend of yours, but you couldn't. "I, sure, I guess." You approached him.

He eyed you curiously, the sudden mood change totally blew him off. "Is everything alright? Do you need something?"

You sighed and got closer, his breath almost stopped as you stopped right in front of him and glared at him. "Sir, I believe you promised to tell me what happened to you."

"What?" He whispered as he felt his cheeks becoming hotter, he wasn't the type to get flustered like that for nothing, but he just couldn't believe that you were actually serious about wanting to know about him. "Ah, you actually want to know." He smiled embarrassed.

"If it's not too private." You shrugged. "I mean, it's like when you see a student sad and you want to cheer them up, this is the same thing."

He cleared his throat. "Right." He then closed the door so that no one could hear you from the corridor, you kept silent and just waited for him to say something. "Well, I went back to my hometown because my father died." He blurted out as if he had been keeping those words inside for way too long.

Your smile faded as soon as you realized what he had just said. You had guessed that it was something that had to do with his family but not like this. It made sense, his sudden sad expression and gloomy atmosphere he had around. "I'm sorry to hear that." You muttered and offered a small smile. "If I can do anything..."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it, focus on your assignments and that will be enough." He patted your head again, but this time you could sense his voice cracking.

Maybe it was an impulse or just the need to comfort him, but you leaned in and hugged him, he froze on the spot as he felt your arms wrapping around him. "I don't want to make it weird, I just felt like a hug would help." You muttered hiding your face from him.

It was sudden and totally unexpected, but he didn't mind. In fact, it had been a long time since anyone had hugged him. He felt awkward but appreciated, he took a deep shaky breath as he returned the hug, you could feel his soft skin slightly brushing against yours and it made you shiver a little. "Thank you." He whispered before pulling away and adjusting himself, as if nothing had ever happened. "But now you should go to class." He opened the door and you both stepped out of the room. "And remember, one assignment every day, starting from tomorrow."

You offered a big smile. "Will do, have a good day!" And with that, you walked away, you needed to get to your next lesson as soon as possible since you were already late.

Eren scoffed a little as he watched you stepping away from him. He had never really thought anything about you, yes you were very clumsy and always missed your deadlines, but you were always quiet in class as if you were lost in your own world. He was pretty sure you didn't listen to half of his classes and that was probably the reason why you had so many difficulties with the assignments. He chuckled softly as he thought about the enthusiastic expression you had when he had decided to close an eye on the situation, you could look very cute.

He then stopped and frowned. He could think that, but he couldn't let his internal comments become something else. Vice-principal Ackerman had already nagged him about all the responsibilities and risks of the job, he was pretty popular himself with the students. "What am I thinking." He started to walk towards the school's exit. He should just be grateful that a student like you was worried for him and leave it at that, he needed to get himself together, if you could tell something was wrong with him then so did the others.