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Word Count: 2430

"Ooh love,
ooh lover boy
whatcha' doing
tonight? Hey boy."
— Queen

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OCTOBER HAD ROLLED AROUND quicker than you expected. You were already half way through the semester and you still hadn't done anything worth-while in Europe. Once a week your family maid would call you from Japan to update you on your mother's health. Fortunately she was significantly better compared to the last time you saw her.

It was October fourteenth. Hanji had begged everyone to come help her surprise Erwin Smith. A surprise party in his own basement. He was in the same year as her, Levi, and Moblit. On campus you could only catch small glimpses of him since he moved so fast, taking long strides wherever he went. A lot of the times he was in the library with Hanji reading books. While he read his non-fiction books Hanji dove into her own universe filled with fictional monsters.

"Hanji! You're going to get hurt climbing climbing onto the chair like that." Moblit exclaimed in shock as he watched the brunette hang streamers from the ceiling. He quickly grabbed onto her legs to help her balance.

Hanji seemed to be unfazed by her careless actions. She continued humming the happy birthday song repeatedly as she hung more party decorations. "Happy birthdayyy dear Erwinn" She sang confidently in a deep voice.

Everyone in the room covered their ears preparing themselves. You looked around unaware of what exactly they were covering their ears for. Hanji sounded fine to you. That was until:

"HAPPY BIRTHDAYY TO YOUU~!!" She threw her arms up in the air causing her to lose her balance. Hanji however didn't seem to notice that she was falling backwards. In fact she was laughing like a maniac.

"Hanji!" Moblit cried out, reaching his arms out to catch the falling woman. Fortunately he was able to catch her without tipping over himself. "You're so reckless! I'm going to get a heart attack because of you one day."

"Then I'll just get the defibrillators to save you!" Hanji jumped out of the boys arm with a cheeky grin on her face.

"That wasn't my point Hanji!"

So that's why they were covering their ears. They knew Hanji was gonna start screaming yet none of them decided to warn you. How thoughtful of them.

You rubbed your ear, Hanji's voice still echoing in your eardrums. Man, You thought she can really blow out someone's eardrum with a voice like that. If you didn't know any better, you would've mistaken her for some military general. With a voice like that she'd definitely be able to get their attentions with ease.

"We're back!" Jean kicked the door open, revealing himself with multiple beer cases in his arms. He walked inside the room and dropped the case on the floor in the corner of the room.

Two other figures followed behind him. It was Marco and Connie, each other them were holding at least five paper bags. One had paper bags filled with food and snacks, while the other carried beverages and wine.

"Connie!" Sasha ran up to her friend and rummaged through the paper bag that was wedged between his armpits. Her eyes sparkled as she pulled out a piece of beef jerky from the bag. She greedily stuffed it into her mouth.

Her boyfriend scrambled to her side with a bottle of water in hand. Niccolo rubbed her back in a soothing motion to help her swallow the large chunk of jerky she had stuffed in her mouth. "I tell you this all the time, no one is going to take your food! You're going to choke one of these days Sasha."

You envied Sasha and Niccolo's relationship. They had been together since they were in high school. Except for the fact that Niccolo attended Marley High while she attended Paradis High. Rare high school sweethearts that ended up making it to college together. He was a second year at the university studying Culinary Arts. Sasha was also studying the same thing as him so they were together for quite some time each day at school.

That reminded you. It's been a month and you still hadn't responded to Floch's texts. He had probably gotten upset and forgot about it. That might've been the best since you were really weren't sure about him.

Jean slowly crept up behind you before poking his fingers at your sides causing your body to take a screen shot. He blinked his eyes twice and bit down on his lip to suppress the laughter that was traveling up his throat.

You turned around sending him a cold glare. "Hey!–" Before you could yell at him he shoved an object in your face. The bottle label read "ラムネ(Ramune)".  You drew your head back, slightly befuddled. This was your favorite sugary drink growing up. This was the one treat your parents would let you have at the end of every quarter each time you brought a good report card home.

"I saw this at the store and thought you might like it." Jean grabbed your hand and put the bottle in your hands, using his other hand to wrap your hand around the glass bottle. "You looked like the type of girl to like strawberry so that's the flavor I chose for you. Look! I even got one for myself except, mine is blueberry flavored."

It was like he was psychic. How'd he know your favorite flavor was strawberry? Did you tell him that? No. You had never even talked about the beverage with him.

You slowly bobbed your head up and down. Your lips curled up to a genuine smile. "Are you a mind reader? I've been wanting to drink this for a while now." You chuckled, brushing your thumb against the top of the bottle.

"Mind reader? That'd be pretty dangerous if I could. I'd be reading your mind all the time and wondering if it's me that you're always thinking of." Typical Jean. He flashed you a small wink before cracking his bottle open.

"As if!" You protested to his statement with a light blush on your cheeks. "That would be pretty scary though. You having the ability to read minds? I'd immediately transfer to another campus."

Jean examined the bottle feeling a little perplexed. He didn't know how to get rid of the clear ball that was preventing the liquid from getting out. You shook your head and clicked your tongue against the roof of your mouth.

"Give me that." You placed your beverage down and grabbed his bottle. You used the plastic tool that came with the bottle and placed your palm on top of it before pushing it down, causing the ball to fall down. The liquid inside began to fizz. "Here."You handed the bottle back to him before opening your own.

"Huh, I would've never guessed." He muttered softly.  Jean brought the opening of the bottle up to his mouth, slightly tilting it to have the liquid slowly pour out. His eyes slightly widened at the sweet carbonated drink. "This is not bad.. but it does seem to contain a lot of sugar."

You giggled. "But it's good isn't it? This is why I couldn't have it often as a child. It's not that great for the body."

He nodded and laughed with you, moving the bottle counter-clockwise in circles watching the ball inside move with fascination. "So that ball.. is it like some ball of carbonation?"

"Yup! Sometimes it's called marbel soda because of the ball inside." You took a big gulp of your own drink. Exhaling happily as the sweet familiar taste hit your tastebuds.

"What are you two doing?" Moblit walked approached both of you with his hands resting on his hips. "Erwin is going to be here in less than two hours so please stop slacking off! We still have to write his name on the cake.."

You opened your mouth to speak but before you could utter a single word a loud crash could be heard coming from the closet. Moblit flinched at the sound with sweat trickling down the side of his head. Hanji released a loud scream from the closet room causing Moblit to bolt to the closet.

"Hanji!!" He shouted with concern.

He takes his eye off of her for one second and she somehow manages to get herself into trouble. Without Moblit, Hanji probably would've been in the hospital right now.

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"Surprise!!" Everyone shouted at the same time as the tall blond walked through the door.

Erwin's face grew pale at the sight of so many people in his basement. The first question that came to his mind was: how did they get in? Then he turned to the smaller man who was trailing behind him. The dots had connected. Levi was the only one who had access to his house since he was the one who carried his spare key. Erwin was known to always forget his keys so he entrusted Levi with a spare.

"Happy birthday to one of my best pals!" Hanji jumped out from behind the couch and threw her arm around his neck causing him to grunt at the sudden force being put upon his neck by Hanji's weight. "You're like ancient now! God we can put you in a museum as a relic!"

"I'm literally the same age as you Hanji." He breathed out, pushing her arm off his shoulder.  Erwin scanned the room to recognize each face. Although he's never really showed himself amongst the group, he knew each and everyone of them. Including you.

Levi gave the four-eyed girl a mean flick on her forehead. He sighed giving her a cold stare. "I could see you've made a mess back there.." He pointed at the opened closet that revealed boxes that were tipped over.

"Hehe.." She rubbed at her forehead. "Anyways! Erwin, Levi! Why don't you two do a duet? We're going do karaoke until our voices are gone!"

Hanji wasn't exaggerating. You knew she meant what she said. She would force everyone to participate in this karaoke night. You weren't mentally prepared for it, but as they say... yolo?

Erwin and Levi were the first to go up. Both of them already had a few rounds of beer. They stumbled to the front of the room, arms draped over one another's necks. What shocked you the most was their song choice. It was a song from a Disney movie.. the Disney movie you were least fond of. The song was "Love is An Open Door" from the movie Frozen.

"All my life has been a series of doors in my face, then suddenly I bumped into youuu~" Levi poked at Erwin's nose with a sluggish smile across his face.

The stoic Erwin Smith was a completely different man under the influence of alcohol. Same thing goes for the Ackerman who usually had a icy glare as his resting face. But he was far from that when he was drunk.

"I've been searching my whole life to find my own place! Maybe it's the party talking, or the chocolate fondue!" Erwin sang the next line, nearly slurring all his words.

"But with youuu!"

"But with you!"

The rest of you watched in awe at their performance. They were close to being completely wasted. As soon as the song ended everyone gave the birthday boy and the dark-haired boy a standing ovation for their wild performance. Next up was Jean, Connie, and Sasha. All of them had a few drops of alcohol but were still pretty much sober... or that's what you thought.

They requested a song by the band Queen. It was called "Good Old-fashioned Lover Boy." The trio introduced themselves before starting up the song. For the most part, Sasha did amazingly well. She had a great voice. Connie on the other hand.. he seemed to be closer to drunk than the rest of them.

"Ooh love! Ooh lover boy~ what're you doing tonight hey boy?" Sasha and Connie sang together almost harmonizing their voices, both of them with their eyes on Jean.

Jean wrapped his hand around the microphone tightly. "Set my alarm, turn on my charm. That's because I'm a good old-fashioned lover boy!" As he sang those lines he was directly looking at you. His brown eyes were sparkling underneath the dim lights. He seemed to be passionate while singing.

Your cheeks heated up a little as he continued to look at you while singing. What on earth is that idiot staring at me for? You thought, trying to read his expression. With a drunken face like that it was nearly impossible to find out what he was thinking. This song wasn't possibly meant for you.. right? Jean was definitely drunk, there was no other explanation for why he was looking at you like that. With such loving... eyes?

The song had finally ended and Jean had not taken his eyes off of you. Instead of walking back to his seat he inputted another song into the cue. A song from the musical "Grease"(Hopelessly Devoted To You). Everyone in the room groaned impatiently as they watched the ash-brown haired boy bring the mic up to his mouth again.

"But now, there's no where to hide! Since you pushed my love aside! I'm out of my head. Hopelessly devoted to youu~!" Now he was getting closer to you. His face was filled with so much emotion, he was so immersed into the song. Jean caressed your cheek with the back of his hand.

This guy is out of his mind. You widened your eyes and pushed your back against the chair. You leaned your head back as far as you could before hitting the wall behind you. The blush on your face went from a light shade of red to an intense shade of red. Your heart was pounding against your chest.

With his face only inches away from yours, Marco saved both you and Jean from an embarrassing situation. He pulled the microphone away from Jean and seated him next to you.

"Alright! Jean seems to be wasted already.. sooo who wants to go next?" Marco placed the mic down on the coffee table before sitting down next to Jean. He gently pinched the boys ears and sighed. "What are you doing?"

"Just showing Y/N how much I love her!" Jean frowned, desperately clinging onto your shirt. "Why don't you just ditch that ugly Floch! My heart hurts! Heal it pleasee.."

Oh boy. This was going to be a long night.

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authors note;
oh my, my, my.

p.s. if you've
never heard
Erwin and Levi
sing "Love is An
Open Door"
please check
if out. it's so
funny!