AN: Hello, everyone! Candi here.

Well, there's no point in making excuses. I completely dropped the ball on my original "Just Another Ereri Fanfic", forgetting about it for three whole years!

I am so very sorry. You see, my life was quite unstable for a while, but now things are (thankfully) back on track.

So, as an apology and a thank you, I have decided to revive and revamp my dead fic and repost it here.

Enjoy.

Bitter Beginnings

The sounds of and smells of summer filled the air: cicadas chirping, freshly mowed grass, and hundreds of students chattering excitedly to each other as they poured out onto the sprawling lawns and parking lots, eager to be free for three whole months. It wasn't the imminent vacation that had the students chattering excitedly to each other, however. No, the hot topic of the night was the final soccer game of the season, or rather, how it had ended. The game had come to a sudden, screeching halt following an accident involving the team's star forward. Unable to catch up without their MVP, the Tsubasa High Scouts had been left with no choice but to succumb to their inevitable defeat at the hands of their rival team, who had stalked triumphantly off the field with the first place trophy, leaving a bitter taste in everyone's mouths. However, now that it was over, and the player in question was getting the treatment he needed, the student body could relax and relive the game's highlights, as well as speculate the school's comeback plan for next season.

Everyone, that is, except Eren Jeager, current object of his fellow students' gossip, as he complained bitterly from his seat on the bleachers, waiting for the medical transport to show up.

"I just don't understand it," he mumbled, replaying the moment of his fall on the soccer field over and over in his mind in dismay. He was never, ever that clumsy. It had to be sabotage.

He racked his brain over and over for an explanation, some sign that he had been deliberately put out of commission, but came up with nothing. Eventually, he was going to have to face the facts: he had royally screwed up. But not now. Now was a time for silent seething. That was the Eren way: wallow now, accept his personal flaws later.

"It's really not that hard to understand, Eren," replied a dry voice to his left. His foster sister, Mikasa, sat watching him like a protective mother hen. "You won't be able to play for the rest of the season. It's just too severe of a break."

"Not that," Eren snapped, glowering at her. "I'm not an idiot, Mikasa, give me some credit."

She made a noise that made it sound like she thought that was debatable. He ignored her and went on, "I just don't understand how I could be injured that badly from such a stupid fall. I mean it hurts like a bitch, but it feels like a sprain, if anything."

His father piped up suddenly. He didn't often make it to games, since his work kept him so busy, but it was rather a good thing that he was here, considering. Medical knowledge aside, he was probably the only factor keeping the little group from exploding into a mess of hormone-induced arguments. He had a calm, steady demeanor about him that his son was immensely grateful for, very deep down. Like hell Eren would show it, though. He was too pissed at his sudden downturn of luck to give anyone the satisfaction of being right.

"It's not, Eren," said Grisha. "Your foot is swelling, disjointed, and most definitely broken. You'll be lucky if you can play next season, but for now you're out of commission. Now come along. The ambulance is here." He helped Eren to his feet, where he stood awkwardly balancing most of his weight onto his good foot and clinging to Grisha's arm for support.

Eren rolled his eyes. "Dad, really? You couldn't have just driven me? This is way too over the top for a leg injury."

Armin jogged up, panting. "No, he's right. Even with your dad's expertise, we can't tell the extent of the injury or know best how to treat it until we get you to the hospital and X-rayed."

Eren glared at him, causing peace-loving Armin to back off, holding up both of his hands in a silent surrender.

The paramedics walked up to greet them, and, after a short exchange of information, helped a grudging Eren into the back of their vehicle. Mikasa hovered over him silently while Grisha conversed with the head paramedic, who administered Eren a shot of morphine for the pain. Meanwhile, Armin chatted away in a nervous sort of manner about the game. "-was some goal, though… You did a flip in midair and rocketed that ball into the goal with just the very tip of your toe. I don't think the other guy ever saw it coming."

Eren was only half listening, but he was beginning to feel unreasonably irritated. "Yes, I know Armin. I was there," he replied shortly. Upon seeing Armin's crestfallen expression, he quickly added, a bit more kindly, "You make it sound so remarkable, but it wasn't really...I just got lucky."

Then super unlucky afterwards, he thought testily.

"Yes, and if you hadn't been so hyper focused on that stupid game, you might not have landed so awkwardly and gotten hurt in the process," Mikasa retorted.

Eren gaped at her. "First of all, it's not just some stupid game. It's my life and if I'm lucky, it'll be my ticket to college. Second of all, isn't winning the point?"

Mikasa's eyes narrowed. "Yes, but at what cost?"

Eren frowned. "You say that like I was trying to get hurt."

"When have you ever tried not to?" she quipped, looking away.

Eren opened his mouth to retort, but Armin cut him off, sensing a fight brewing. "Guys, let's just drop it, OK? It's been a long day for all of us."

They fell silent, and the only sound punctuating the silence in the remaining few minutes of the ride was Eren's vitals monitor beeping with his pulse. Finally, the vehicle pulled to a stop in front of the ER and everyone hopped out so the paramedics could wheel Eren into the hospital. The morphine had kicked in at this point, and it was making him drowsy. He vaguely answered a few questions for the nurses when they came in, his voice thick with exhaustion. They took his vitals, gave him a CT scan, and took X-Rays of his foot before returning him to his hospital room and telling him the doctor would be with him shortly and he complied with all of this, too out of sorts to argue.

Finally, a colleague of his father's, Dr. Hange, came bustling in. She was eccentric-looking, with a messy ponytail, large glasses that magnified her eyes to bug level proportions, and a smile that looked like it belonged on the face of a serial killer. Eren grimaced. She greeted Grisha enthusiastically before turning to Eren and going over the plan. Eren faded in and out of consciousness as she explained to him that his foot was broken in five different places, and that they would be performing an immediate surgery to place metal screws into it so that he could heal properly. The last thing he remembered was the phlebotomist sticking a needle the size of large house centipede into his hand and telling him to count backwards from ten.

It felt like someone had cracked an egg over his forehead and the yolk goo was slowly spreading outward over his face as he counted, his mouth struggling to form the words, feeling as though it were stuffed full of cotton. "Ten, nine, eight…"

"Well, this has definitely been some of my best work," Dr. Hange was saying as the waking world flickered into existence around Eren. He tried to sit up, blinking sleep out of his eyes and feeling nauseated. Anesthesia, he thought bitterly. His leg felt stiff and heavy, and Eren realized groggily as he looked down at it that this was because it was in a cast.

"You'll be out for the rest of the summer, but if you stay off it and let it heal, you should be back on the field in no time," Dr. Hange went on, smiling in an irritatingly cheerful manner.

Eren realized blearily whilst she was speaking that Mikasa and Armin were absent, and concluded that they must have been picked up at some point during his absence from awareness.

"Great news, eh son?" Grisha asked, obviously trying to remain positive for Eren's sake.

"Yeah. Stellar," Eren mumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

He was confined to a completely immobile summer break. Groovy.

Eren sort of zoned out while his father took care of his discharge paperwork, wondering if someone up there had it out for him or something.

Little did he know it was about to get a whole lot worse...