I Shall Be Happy

"..."

"Cheer up, Eren. Sometimes there are just people who are blessed. And those who aren't. Sadly you're the latter. But imagine this. Even if you don't have the talent, what if you can make it up with your hard work? Isn't that more amazing?"

"..."

"Stop sulking, bro. You're like 12 years old and as big as a man. Why are you acting like somebody killed your wife or something."

"...I don't even have a girlfriend..."

"What are you mumbling about? Come on! Speak up! Like a man!"

"..."

"What? What's with those eyes? Look at Armin. Even though you're better than him physically, at least he doesn't let it get to his head."

"..."

"...Maybe not"

On a separate table, Armin was speaking with swag in front of a big audience. Unlike Eren, who likes flaunting to others, his calm personality was a clear contrast. It made others feel at ease since he doesn't make them feel inferior. Plus, everybody enjoyed the story of his hot-blooded training.

During the ODM test, he was the most impressive after Athanatos, with Historia, came in a close third place.

That was the official ranking. But the truth is, Mikasa and Annie didn't even try. They were just simply suspended at a standstill. This feat was actually very tough to replicate, even for Armin, but others didn't see how impressive it was since they were blinded by Athanatos', Armin's, and Historia's performance.

Though, at first, everyone wanted to approach Athanatos for his secret.

But all he replied was:

'Cuz I'm a genius.'

Coupled with his boasting attitude and the fact that he is currently sitting with three beautiful girls, while actively flirting with two, everybody felt it too awkward to continues.

So that's why nobody is paying attention to Eren, except for a couple of gloatings from time to time.

"Well, anyway, my point is: it takes time to develop skills. You can't just simply expect always succeed on your first try. So now that you failed, try to do better next time. If you fail again, try again. Are you just going to give up? What about your dream of joining the Survey Corps? Are you chickening out now?"

"No... You're right. I have been letting my confidence getting into my head. This arrogant attitude is what is preventing me from becoming stronger. Yes... Thank you, Thana-kun, for telling me this."

"Ur— *nom* —saying— *nom*—, sumthin??"

"..." Eren was utterly speechless. Just when he had finally got out of depression, nobody cares.

"Eat this Thana-kun..."

"Thanks, Mikasa"

*nom*, *nom*, *nom*

"Eat some meat too."

"Thanks, Annie..."

It was at that moment...

"I SMELLED MEAT!!!"

A beast has finally awoken.

"AHHHHH!!! MEAT!!"

Like a hunting dog, Sasha was slowly making her way to Athanatos' table by sniffing the smell.

"Hey, wait a minute. Didn't I tell you to hide the meat, Annie?"

"... Really?" Annie was playing dumb while twiddling her thumbs. Looking at Mikasa happily feeding Athanatos, she decided to take out some homemade meats from her pocket dimension pouch that was given to her by Athanatos a while ago. Though she broke the rule, it was a small price to pay as long as her Thana-kun enjoy the meal.

"..."

"<(￣︶￣)>" Annie just shrugged with a smile on a face.

"... Quick, give me all the meat."

It was too late now... Sasha had already discovered the plate full of meat.

So, like any rational human being, Athanatos got rid of his problem by passing it onto someone. And that someone was Eren...

"Hey, Eren... Catch!"

While Eren was baffled by the whole event, he was caught off guard when an entire plate full of meat was thrown onto his face with an inhumane speed.

It was impossible to dodge.

"GRRRRRRRRR!!!"

And what followed was...

"STOP BITING!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!"

"GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!"

It was almost as if Sasha was r*ping Eren forcefully. But from others' perspective, it was just a passionate scene of a couple m.a.k.i.n.g. .l.o.v.e to each other.

Normally, Eren would have been able to get Sasha off him. But he was having a slight concussion so he couldn't use his full strength, thus resulting in Sasha overpowering him.

Now, some were even whistling at the scene.

"Eren, I didn't know you liked being the receiving one." Athanatos, who was the fault of everything that's happening, added fuel to the fire. He wasn't going to let go of the opportunity of shifting the blame onto Eren. And no one will ever know he brought meat into the camp.

""Thana-kun..."" Mikasa, Annie, and Historia, who witnessed the entire event, were rolling their eyes. This wasn't the first time he had done something like this. And it won't be the last either.

After a whole 3minutes of wrestling, the battle finally came to a conclusion. Eren's face was licked clean, with traces of bite marks Sasha, on the other hand, was lying on the floor with a face filled with satisfaction. But then...

*BAM*

"WHAT'S WITH THE RUCKUS?"

Silence descended the moment Keith Shadis walked in.

No one dared to answer, nor would they be able to.

How could anyone explain this situation to the instructor, without selling Eren or Sasha out? Even though some of them might be wicked, they didn't want to destroy such a beautiful relationship. Like, who would in their right mind — make out with a girl — in front of an audience — for three whole freaking minutes!!!

"... I see. No one wants to say anything, huh? What a beautiful camaraderie. BUT I DON'T GIVE A F**K! TELL ME OR I WILL PUNISH YOU ALL!"

Not a single soul spoke a word.

This simple action took Eren off by surprise. He didn't even know most of them and also mistreated them, yet, now, they were covering up for him.

To him, they weren't simple cannon fodders anymore; they were precious comrades.

Until...

"Eren slipped on the floor and cried like a little b*tch."

In Athantos' mind, what he thought was:

'I see... Nobody here is good at lying. Guess I have to show off my abilities.'

"YOU!!!" Erens' eyes turned bloodshot, and he almost spurted out the blood in his throat.

He should have known. Yes... Anybody can lie. Anyone but Athanatos.

This is why... you don't team up with a pig-like teammate.

There's no need to be afraid of powerful bosses since you can always win later. But having a pig teammate like Athanatos is like having a ticking bomb that you can't rid of.

It's not a matter of when it will blow up. It's how big the explosion will be when the bomb detonated.

And thus...

"Eren... you... I... I guess I misjudged you. I was just about to come here to announce that there was a problem with your ODM belt, which resulted in you almost failing. Your overall performance should have been much better, and I was going to offer you a re-do. Now... I guess there's no need."

Keith Shadis' face was quite complicated. He didn't expect that behind the strong farce Eren put up, was just a sissy boy. What a disappointment as Grisha's and Carla's son.

"No... No... It wasn't me!!! I didn't slip on the floor! He lied!"

"No, I didn't... How can you blame me, your best friend?" Athanatos, who heard, his word quickly turned his head away and pretended to be saddened by Eren's betrayal.

"YOU!!! Why are yo-"

"Enough!! Eren. I'm disappointed in you. Why don't you accept your shortcomings like a man? Stop being such a puccy and blame everyone."

"... I... I..."

"Apologize to your friend, and I will let you redo the test tomorrow. Do it like a man."

With an extreme face of reluctance, Eren turned to face Athanatos, who was sobbing(?) silently. He was pissed, but he couldn't do anything about it. He didn't want to mess up his chance tomorrow.

But before he could apologize, he thought, 'Is he actually crying? Or why does it seem to me that he is laughing?'

"I'm sorry Thana-kun, I hope you can forgive me."

"Apology accepted. ख৺ख✧ "

Silence descended once again into the dining room.

Nobody expected the sobbing noises that Athanatos' made was just him snickering.

It took their alls to hold themselves back from walking up to Athanatos, and probably beat him senseless.

And for the three girls who were extremely familiar with Athanatos' antics, they couldn't help but facepalm.

Haizz... It's gonna be quite a long time until for three years to pass away.