A/N: I apologise that it's been so long since the last update. I hope that however late, you may enjoy. Thank you kindly to all that have left comments; positive or of critique. Your words are encouraging.

Well, here goes nothing. She breathes in deeply as she feels the give of the bar handle of this rather heavy, metal door; a harsh creak flooding the room upon entering to find three guys gathered in one corner of the room… One sits, a rather solid expression painting his stern face, charcoal eyes on the screen of the mobile phone his fingers so effortlessly glide over. The second- tall, with a light layer of facial hair in the dip above his chin- huddled over the table that's piled with snacks on the far wall. The third- next to him, slightly shorter, with a raisin-like face, somewhat shrivelled- talks with a boastful, drawn-out tone to the second about the way women were so excitedly discussing him this morning.

"Haha, yeah, except—they've never seen you!" A punch in the shoulder to his 'future family' paired with a charming grin, eyes scrunched in laughter.

Displeasure. His wrinkly face contorts further; tawny eyes closed beneath a strong brow with a scoff. "Tch. Eeeeeh—Well, it's only a matter o' time."

"…"

They almost don't seem to take notice of her, and raisin-face… doesn't seem real.

"…"

Are these… her future bandmates? Weren't they supposed to be total dreamboats? She reconsiders things… The one with the flippy, blonde ponytail? Sure. Yeah, he's hot. She can even see the appeal of the buff, stoic guy with the chestnut for a head that's texting silently in the plush armchair. Sure. Yeah. Okay. But… the third guy? What is he… like, 40? The prominent, wavy lines in his forehead… the puffy bags and grooves beneath his sandy orbs… the lightly sagging skin at the corners of his mouth… The ad said no older than 22. Several of the women in line this morning had gossiped in giggles about the final male member being selected in her city's try-outs yesterday. Maybe it was just a rumour? Surely he couldn't be one of the 'hotties' she'd be working with.

Finally, the tall, blonde one turns toward the door, instantly smiling as he meets her honey gaze with his of sky. "AH! Hey! Are you here about the snacks? I wanted more of these little, powdery, doughnut things." He holds up a half-eaten package of the item in question.

The surprise is painted on her face; the light widening of her copper gaze and her lips that come slightly agape. Does… she… look that out of place? Here she was thinking they did, though the one asking about the dusty treats the least so. Asshole. Though she doesn't necessarily think herself pop star material, she's surely has a stronger presence than 'doughnut delivery girl'.

"Petra!"

"A—ah?" Her gaze contorts from one of annoyance to displeasure, shooting to raisin-face. "How do you—how do—"

A face of pure excitement, pointing to himself. "It's me! Don't you remember?!"

"No." She shares with him the most creeped out of expressions. How does he know her name? She squints, studying his features; she's certain she would have remembered fake-gangster prune-eyes had they ever met. She lifts her copper gaze back to the blonde, noting the confusion in his face. Me too, doughnut guy. Me too. A strange spark of a bond strikes her as she stares doughnut guy's confusion head on with her own; they're both bloody lost. A coy curve comes to warm lips, she can read the confused amusement in his eyes as well.

"Ah. I'm Petra. Petra Ral…. From… here." An outstretched hand.

Copper eyes dwell too long on the azure string knotted about one finger as he returns the gesture, noting the strength in her grip though she's of such dainty stature. "Haha, Erd Ginn. Dartford." A quirk to one blonde brow with a smile. "So, if you aren't here about the doughnuts, I'm assuming you're a try-out?" She's cute, he'll give her that. Though, a little on the short side for such a position.

"Oh. No. I uh… well, sort of. I mean, I was."

"Ah. Sorry to hear that, Petra. You get lost?"

"No. Uh, Moblit brought me back here."

A genuine smile spreads his face almost instantly. "Ah! You're our centre member!" His hug envelops the entirety of her form before pulling back, hands on her freckle-spiced shoulders.

"Guaaaaaaaaa!"

They both turn, eyes met with raisin-face, blood streaming his wrinkled skin and speckling the concrete at his feet. He seemingly had bitten his tongue in his haste to spout words of pleasure, flirtation and surprise.

That's when copper eyes widen and her amber brow upturns; sheer horror and confusion and disbelief painting her contours. She remembers.

"Bl-bloodsprinkler?!"

It's him. Wow- has time dealt him something awful- it's only been a couple years and… he wasn't half this wrinkly in secondary school. But she's certain—it's him. On the volleyball team- libero… Almost every match ended prematurely because the court would be deemed unsanitary by the crimson that splattered the floor whenever he attempted a save. Usually, the save worked… but… that didn't really matter considering the matches were postponed or had a 20 minute remission because of him.

With the help of a bundle of napkins, the bleed is brought to a stop.

"Oi, Petra. It's been so long."

An inward grimace. She sighs. How the hell did he land this position? I mean, she was hesitant on her own likelihood, but… Auruo Bossard? Such a dork. She remembers now. Whilst her 16-year-old self was off in la-la land about Erwin Smith from her new boss' old boy band, Auruo was obsessed with shorty badass—he even had a clear file of him for maths. That was around the time she remembers him starting that weird, drawn-out pattern of speech and scrunching his face to a raisiny mess. He was… trying to emulate Levi? No. There's no way this could be real. . . She… doesn't know what to say. The world already felt once like it had stopped today… and again now… does she even want it to restart?

"Yeah… it's been a while."

"Okay. So you and bloodsprinkler here know each other? That's pretty uncanny." He picks up her use of the nickname, which Auruo seems none too pleased with, responding with a muffled grimace about the bunch of napkins he holds to his outstretched tongue.

"Yeah. Same high school."

"Well, Mr. Hidden-away-on-his-phone-blogging over there is Gunther Shulz. Also from Dartford."

A wave of a hand in dismissal to say 'leave-me-out-of-this'. She swears she spots a flash of cerulean tied about one finger, a string, leading… to her hand. And in all but the moment it takes him to lower the gesture, it's gone.

Erd laughs, hands on his hips. "Really, what a coincidence. Two pairs of two that already knew each other before this all happened. Gunther was actually the first to be selected."

A further wave of a hand in dismissal.

"But it's been over two weeks since then. I was wondering when this would actually pick up. Hah. We finally got our female lead."

So she's… like the Hange of this idol group? Wow… she can't wait to tell her father this evening. He'll likely be… surprised… and happy for her, though, displeased as well. This wasn't the path he had wanted her to take. She was 'a brilliant, beautiful girl' as he'd said. Which is why she didn't have an agent or anything; it's not that he didn't believe in her, but they'd had many arguments over her pursuing something that would keep her local; a local university, which she now attends, to get a local job, to stay here. 'You never really think about what your father wants.' He's said it so many times. But she has thought about it, and doing something like this… means a lot to her. She wants to pursue something bigger, travel the world, live her youth. Her pensiveness is broken, after having missed out on half the conversation between Erd and Auruo -and four poorly made flirtatious advances by raisin-face- by the sudden burst of Hange, pursued by a panicked Moblit, into the room. Nasalised, guttural laughs pour from her lips as Levi follows along flatly behind them.

"Heyooooooo, newbies! Tonight we're having a meet-and-greeeeeet so get reaaaady! We're going to dinner! First thing in the morning's the photo shoot!"

"Tch. This fucking dinner was supposed to be to discuss potential names and finalise paperwork, Shitty Four Eyes. Don't turn it into some fucking drinking night."

"Ooooo! Come on now, Leviiiii. It's a special night. We haven't been in an idol group in 3 years and they've never done anything like this! It calls for a celebraaatiooooon! … … Or are you still constipated?" The most shit eating of grins spreads her face with playful, narrowed eyes.

"Piss off, Hange."

"Come on! They've gotta get to know each other like you and I know each other."

A light grimace. "Tch. You don't fucking know me, Shitty Four Eyes."

"Ooooooo? I know you've got a thing for strawberry blondes."

"….."

"Alright, we'll just go withouchya, Levi." She turns away with a grin, knotting her fingers behind her back, though her chestnut orbs are still pinned in his direction, obviously awaiting the words to come.

Hnnnn….. Why did he decide to do this with Shitty Four Eyes again? No. There's no fucking way she's filing paperwork and making a single decision void his presence. Plus, she'll just get them all wasted off their asses and then their idol photos will end up looking like they chose some ratty, squaloring, university brats. Hnnn. There's no way Erwin and Mike would ever let him live that down. Have they finished choosing the shitty brats for their idol group yet? He heard they were going for a generation younger than what he and Hange had selected. He's silent a spell, face flattening, the grandest 'I'm so done with this shit' sort of deadpan to paint his face to date. "Hnn. Alright, Shitty Four Eyes. Berner. You're coming."

"Yahoooo!" She turns, hopping into the nervous, aforementioned man's arms. If he weren't such a big guy, his ass would likely be brought to the floor by her swinging mass.

Don't be nervous, Moblit Berner.