Summary: Jean isn't sure why but he already hates the friend of his friend's friend
Maybe it was the wind that carried the heavy beats of multiple drums across the small town. Maybe it was that Jean was entirely in love with music, especially the rhythmic beating of drums that keep all the other instruments in line that he heard them. Maybe he just really wanted to go somewhere else, away from his friends for a bit.
Maybe he shouldn't have gone looking for the source at all.
Jean Kirschstein, a junior in high school in the town of Trost, a larger, more extravagant version of Shinganshina. Shinganshina had more history though, with people who knew each other better than those of Trost, smaller and had a more warm atmosphere filling the streets. It was just across the cemetery and train tracks both towns shared.
It was a common place for Jean and his friends to go since it meant that no one should know them there, and it had a lot of locales that they deemed worthy for their hangouts.
They had sat outside the lone, brick building that used to be a part of a castle of some sort, they crowded in one of the corners of the open space that many local kids would go to also hang out. But it was about nine at night and there was classes for all the Maria district schools, this included Shinganshina. Rose district schools, including Trost, had a non-student day which they were all glad for.
"Hey Jean," the bald kid named Connie called. He came to Trost to get a better education and quickly befriended Sasha, another student who went to Trost for the same reason. Both could easily relate to the fact they both came from miniscule towns out in the middle of no where.
"What Connie?" Jean inquired, lazily slouching against the building next to his best friend who had thrown himself into the depths of a new book the new blond kid had suggested him.
"Ya look like someone pissed in your haybale, what's wrong?" He snickered and elbowed Sasha for some praise. She elbowed back and giggled behind her thin hand.
"I swear to fuck I will punch your shiny, bald head off your shoulders if you keep making horse jokes."
Marco brought the book away from his face a bit and just said plainly, "Guys, c'mon. Not here." He immediately went back to reading.
Jean sighed and gave a friendly kick of annoyance to Connie's knee while crossing his arms. He shut his eyes just as a group of people passed by with interestingly shaped bags but he dismissed it. He caught himself listening to Sasha and Connie about something or other about Ymir finally getting Historia to date her.
"I just realized, where did that new kid Armin go?" Sasha asked loudly.
Jean reluctantly opened his eyes and noticed there was just four of them, they had all packed into Marco's five seater car with all seats filled. He grunted as he sat up more straight and looked over at Marco. He shrugged and put his bookmark into his book, halfway through it, it seemed, and put it away into a small backpack.
"No one knows where Armin went? He hardly ever goes out, we would look like jerks if we didn't go looking for him. What if he got lost somewhere? Well no, that wouldn't make sense..." Marco murmured, looking around the square.
"He was with us when we got here, where could he have gone?" Sasha asked immediately after.
"This sucks, he seems like the kinda guy who hardly has friends and will feel so alone at a school like ours," Connie chimed in.
"Okay okay, we'll go look for him," Jean grumbled. He hardly knew the guy, not even his friend really, more of Marco's, but he was a nice guy most of the time.
Though, all he wanted to do was sit around outside, away from home. His mom has been in a nagging mood lately as well. He didn't really feel it in him to go boy hunting.
Just as Jean was getting up, he heard the familiar sound of beating drums. Not very clear or clean, seems like whoever was playing was warming up.
"Should we go split up and meet back up here or," Marco started saying before Jean started walking toward the sound. "Jean?"
"You guys go start looking, I'm just going to go check out that sound real quick. I'll be right there."
Jean could hear Marco calling after him but stopped after Jean rounded the corner that lead to the back street and balcony behind the partial castle building. The male han't realized how close the drums actually were. They came from down the stairs, just at the base. He walked over to the railings that edged the balcony that looked down upon the back street. It seemed to be one of the many outer streets that had been abandoned by their owners for better living.
He rested his arms on the cold railing, feeling the full blast of the autumn wind now that there was nothing obstructing the wind's path. His sweater barely forbade the cold air from entering his body through his skin, but he could care less as he watched the group of drummers circling up, quickly shaking out their arms. They seemed to be chatting amongst themselves, mostly laughing, most if not all of them bundled up in some way.
"Practicing this late at night?" he murmured to himself as he was about to walk away without really looking at each person carefully.
"Alright!" someone called below to gather the attention of the massive group. Not much was said and Jean wasn't really listening as he was about to walk back over to his friends who had been waiting for him to hurry up. But he turned back around once he heard the clean, crisp sounds of multiple drums. He could hear the multiple different kinds and sections each played, and though drums obviously have no notes, they had specific sound that really made Jean shiver. Drums were great, Jean loved how they could sound good without any notes to play, just a beat to keep or a rhythm to create with a variation of tapping and pauses.
He repositioned his arms on the railing, watching the circle of humans simultaneously lifting their arms and dropping their hands or swirling a single drumstick around together.
"Hey, isn't that Armin?" Connie shouted above the wind that had picked up while pointing down at the group. Where did he come from?
Jean followed the male's extended arm and found that he was right. The blond was standing down there, the only one without a drum or sticks among the group that had gone through their first repetition of their rhythm. But what really caught his attention was the male next to their new friend who wore a tight, thin jacket and an old pair of jeans that huugged his butt but nothing else. He had a dark, possibly maroon colored beanie hugging his scalp. His bangs were flailing wildly off his forehead and every so often Jean would notice his very defined eyebrows that complimented his eye shape.
"Should we go down there?" Sasha pondered aloud, leaning over the railing over the staircase.
Jean licked his lips and shook his head before he responded. "No, let's wait a bit." He continued to eye the drummer friend of Armin's. He looked familiar, sort of.
And so they waited. All four of them listening to the loud, crisp sounds of the drums. It had been thirty minutes, almost time for them to head back into their own town when the group of drummers finally stopped.
"I wonder what their practicing for, maybe for that once festival that they hold during the summer every year?" Marco voiced.
"But that is in the summer, why would they practice now? It's already passed, maybe it is for school." Sasha argued.
"Would the school really let them practice in some deserted back street at nine pm? Really?" Connie countered.
Their short banter was loud enough to catch the attention of multiple drummers who looked up at the group of four. This included Armin who had been so focused on chatting with the male next to him that he hardly noticed how loud he was speaking.
The blond had turned shortly to glance over before he did a full 180. "Oh, hi," he called sheepishly from below. He gave a short wave and mumbled something to the male before heading off, up the stairs and met up with his new friends of a few weeks at the balcony. The wind had died down a bit, making it easier to chat at a normal volume.
Armin was breathing heavy by the time he got to them and had to catch his breath before he could speak clearly. "Sorry, I saw a friend and ran after them without really telling you I had left."
"No, it's alright, we know you used to live here. We were just wondering what happened to you," Marco cheerfully stated.
"Wait you used to live here?" Connie asked confused. Sasha just elbowed him and Armin decided to take it that he didn't have to answer that.
"What were they practicing for?"
Armin smiled wide and started to explain before he was cut off.
"Yo, Arm. Are you coming over tonight? I know how your grandpa's like when you come home late, oh." The male Jean saw next to Armin had walked up behind the blond with a drum shaped bag crossing his body. He had already packed up it seemed that their practice was over for the night.
"Eren, these are my new friend's at Trost High, they come over here a lot to hang out. Jean, Marco, Sasha, Connie, this is Eren, we've been bestfriends since before we even started school," Armin seemed a bit too cheery about introductions. Jean thought it was odd the smart, quiet new kid was bestfriends with this thuggish character. He gave the group a venomous glare, looking them all up and down. He had this atmosphere about him that Jean picked up on, he felt like this guy would beat anyone up if they even brushed shoulders the wrong way.
The Eren guy spent more time looking Jean over than all the others and that really ticked him off.
"Nice to meet you," he finally said through barely parted lips. "So Armin-," he began to say again before being interrupted.
"Hey, do I know you from somewhere?" Connie asked stepping closer to look at Eren better under the yellow light of the street lamps.
"Probably," he replied simply. "I go to Trost too. Well, only for my electives and AP classes. I am homeschooled for everything else."
"Oh! I think I have you in Photoshop."
Marco smiled and also stepped a bit closer. "Don't you sit by the window in AP Bio? I have you in my first period!"
"Oh, I know you. You sit next to Mikasa," Eren raised his eyebrows, giving him a friendlier expression.
Jean grit his teeth and started off down the street. For some reason, hearing him talk about Mikasa and hearing him in general really put Jean on edge. Something about him…
"Jean," he heard his name being called. By which one of them, he didn't know, but it just added to his irritation.
"I'm going to wait in the car," he meant to say it calmly but ended up shouting it over his shoulder. He hadn't continued walking yet before someone said something else.
"Well, we were all planning on heading to Eren's place for a bit. None of us have school tomorrow and Eren has the new seasons of all the summer series that premiered this year on discs."
Jean thought about it, it would look bad to just up and leave. But Jean was torn between his pride and his anger and it was never an easy fight. Why the hell was he mad in the first place? Why the hell did he sound so pissy right then, he was totally calm before. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
He found himself falling behind but following the small group none the less toward Eren's house. The streets were full of the sounds of families quietly speaking along their balconies, cats meowing and their unusually loud footsteps and chatter. Jean had his arms crossed and had a pout similar to a child who had just finished a temper tantrum. Eren was explaining to them why his schooling was weird and stories involving Armin before he moved.
"So why did you move away Armin?" Sasha inquired cheerily.
"Well, my parents went abroad for work and that left my grandpa and I. It just so happened that his home was in Trost and there was better educational opportunities for me there. So I am actually staying with my grandpa until my parents return."
"Ooh."
The chatter had reduced to near silence between all of them. They were walking down a steep hill that had a thin road. They walked far down the street until it ended and broke into a two way intersection. The intersection was also thin, probably more for people rather than any vehicles. Bikes could fit, but it was less likely to be seen on that road it seemed.
Eren stopped at the door to a home that seemed to take up most of the street before the wall broke into a new pattern. Eren's home seemed quite large in comparison to the other buildings. Eren made quick work of opening the door, it was left unlocked apparently, and said, "Here we are. My parents are probably in their room so keep it down, alright?" Eren flipped on a few lights that lit up the short entranceway, the hall and the living room that could be seen through square empty space in the hallway's wall.
There was a grumbling mixed in with the voices that said various things such as 'thank you,' and what not and the grumbling wasn't Jean.
Eren lead the group around the corner into the living room to find a man laying on the couch, sleep grumbling. Jean assumed it was Eren's father, glasses, facial hair, he seemed like the kinda guy who'd drink. But Jean wasn't the kind to judge.
The brunet left the group to wake his sleeping father by lightly nudging his knee and quietly coaxing him to get off the couch. He grumbled a few things before he rolled off the couch and pat his son on the shoulder, making his way to the stairs, saying his greetings, especially noting Armin, and disappearing all together.
"So that was my dad. And yeah, he's usually a heavy sleeper but mom's sick so still keep it quiet."
"You told us that already," Jean said annoyed.
Eren flashed an equally annoyed glance at Jean, which gave Jean the opportunity to finally notice how bright his eyes were now that they were in a well lit area. Jean wasn't even sure what color his eyes were.
"Okay," Marco said breaking the tense atmosphere the two had created. "So what are we watching then?"
From what Jean had soaked in, Eren's house was a lot larger than the layout let on. The kitchen was enormous and full of food (to Sasha's delight), the living room was larger than kitchen, and there was even more upstairs from what Eren let on when they asked about it.
There was a wall-wrap-around couch, soft and complete with cup holders, leg rests for those without recliners. The TV was a great size for watching with groups or even alone. It was nice and clean inside, and it made Jean even more irritated.
He sat himself on the edge by the right armrest, the one closest to the exit, Marco sitting next to him. Sasha and Connie made themselves feel right at home by taking the whole other half of the couch that turned because of the wall. Eren had set up the TV, found some snacks and sat himself in between Marco and Armin.
It was mostly silent on their side of the couch as they watched the blood splatter on screen. Sasha and Connie were set on continuous whisper mode, they were not allowed to talk any louder than that.
Jean found it hard to really focus as he noticed Eren was falling asleep, tilting Marco's way, Armin had already fallen asleep on top of the brunet. Soon the guy that gave Jean unreasonable irritation was about to fall asleep on his best friend with his best friend on him and there would be a pile of people on Jean because he was sure Marco was already asleep.
The male eyed the digital clock on one of the boxes, it read 10:34 and Jean began to wonder if they were leaving at all before the clock struck eleven. He could care less about getting home before midnight, he just didn't want to spend the night in his casual, outdoor clothes in some, basically a stranger's house. Sasha and Connie were probably going to have to sleep over somewhere anyway, it was too late to head all the way out of town to bring them home. Armin could get away with sleeping here he assumed, but Marco probably was labeled with some strict curfew this time since he got less than an A on his last Lit test.
Jean felt himself get a headache. He shut his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose and let himself get sucked into the couch. He crossed his arms over his stomach and spread out his legs more on the rests, almost waking Marco up as he did so.
When he opened his eyes finally he had found a maroon blanket, similar to Eren's beanie, had been carefully placed on him. Marco had curled with another blanket, sort of navy colored, nearby, in the same place Eren and Armin had been what he thought was only moments before. Sasha was at the other side of the couch, somewhat sprawled out with the puke green fleece blanket haphazardly laying on her legs. He had to blink to really focus on the room, the lights were off when he closed his eyes, but now so was the TV. He realized Connie had found a way to make sleeping on the floor look comfortable with his sleeping position. He was given a deer colored blanket that would have covered three of him.
The teen rubbed his eyes and began to wonder how he had fallen asleep so easily. He was wide awake when they were watching whatever that dick Eren put in the DVD player. He looked over at the freckled boy and weighed his options. Jean decided to not wake up their driver and just get up to get a glass of water. He could get water right? He was a guest and he thought he remembered the guy say they could get what they wanted from the kitchen when they were settling in.
Jean cursed at himself, it was halfway to four am and he knew he was stuck there until everyone woke up. At least until Marco woke up. The other three could find a way home, Jean was not going to walk all the way from Eren's to his house. Trost was just across the train tracks and the cemetery, but that shit was spooky at night he'll admit, to himself at least. And even if he overcame that, he lived on the other side of Trost, he would be poop tired by the time he got there and his mom would probably be awake and still at home before leaving for whatever plans she made for herself and her girlfriends.
He shuffled through the house slowly, making his way into the dark kitchen. He flipped the light switch on and started rummaging through the cupboards for a glass of some sort.
"You looking for something?"
Jean immediately felt his hairs rise on his neck and he used the fact that he had just woken up as an excuse to glare at the owner of the voice.
"Water," he replied coldly.
Eren was sitting on the counter opposite Jean who had been looking through the cupboards on the other side of the fridge.
"Water's in the fridge," Eren said smuggly.
"And a glass to drink it in dumbass."
The other male dropped his smug grin and just returned Jean's sleepy glare. He twisted his torso around to pull open one of the doors to procure a small glass, one for Jean, and another for himself. He hopped off the granite counter shortly after and handed one glass to Jean as he opened the fridge door. Eren pulled out a pitcher of water and poured himself some water and then for his guest.
He did everything silently, drank his water, put away the pitcher, closed the fridge door, put his cup in the sink, everything. He hardly even looked at Jean as he did such things, just let Jean do his own thing and minded his own business.
The fact the guy did all that made Jean taste bile.
Eren took notice as he was leaving the kitchen and turned on his heel, leaning back quite smoothly onto the wall. "What's up?" He asked with the underlying tone of more, 'you got the piss cup or you just like that?' rather than actually asking how he was doing.
"Nothing," Jean lied.
"Sure." Eren didn't believe him. But he left it at that. "Since you woke up, you can take one of the other guest rooms if you want. I don't know how you feel about sleeping on a stranger's couch so…"
"Then I bet you know less about how I feel about sleeping in a stranger's guest room."
"Hey, I'm just offering like the good host I am supposed to be."
They stood there quietly for a few long minutes. Both with crossed arms and backs against something.
"Well where is it?"
Eren twisted his expression into the exact emotion Jean was feeling and Jean hated that he could express exactly what Jean was feeling without even knowing how he was feeling. "Well you didn't tell me you wanted it or not." He paused and sighed then pushed off the wall. "This way."
The hall that they originally entered through lead to even more rooms the further past the staircase they went. Eren opened the door to one of the doors, it was by the restroom, but quickly closed it.
"Sorry, not this one."
Jean raised one eyebrow and just gave Eren a look of disgust. Eren seemingly ignored it and rounded back to the staircase and took the steps by two. He rounded around the railing and ignored the next flight of stairs and stopped down the hallway at the second to last door.
"Restroom is next door," Eren pointed at the door next to Jean's. "I'm across the hall tonight, knock first." He was about to leave Jean before Jean spoke up.
"I know my manners," he paused. "Why'd you bring me to this one instead of the one downstairs?"
The question seemed to put Eren in a tight spot. He shifted the weight of his feet and opened and closed his mouth. He seemed to debate whether or not to tell him and what he would say if he did tell him.
"Surprise guest."
